If you have been caught driving while prohibited you have things you must do and you also have some options.
The Motor Vehicle Act offence of Driving While Prohibited it prosecuted in a similar manner to a criminal charge.
Unlike a traffic ticket, if you are charged with driving while prohibited there is compulsory court date. The officer who stops you will issue you an Appearance Notice.
A lawyer or not
When it comes to the Appearance Notice you have the option of going to court by yourself or instructing a lawyer to attend court for you.
If you go to court by yourself you may find the presiding judge suggesting to you that this is a serious matter and you should consider contacting a lawyer to assist you.
If your lawyer attends as your agent for the court appearance, typically the prosecution will note your lawyer’s information and the case will be adjourned for the prosecutor and your lawyer to discuss the facts in the case. These discussions take place between the lawyers, prosecution and defense, in the weeks after the first appearance.
Your lawyer is aware of what evidence the prosecutor needs to present to the court at your trial in order to secure a conviction.
Although occasionally identification may be a relevant factor, in most cases the two issues are whether you drove and whether you were prohibited. In that sense it can be fairly straightforward.
Factors that can affect your options
Rarely, however, is it that straightforward.
Because you have a right to a trial, you have the option of compelling the prosecution to prove their case. This in itself may provide you with options to resolve your driving while prohibited case.
Generally speaking, in negotiated resolutions, the stronger your position, the more advantageous the result that you may achieve.
When your lawyer approaches the prosecutor for resolution discussions, your driving history, personal circumstances and facts of the case may all form part of the matrix that underlies any potential resolution.
Listen to your lawyer’s advice
Additionally, as indicated above, your lawyer is likely to have identified what evidence the prosecution needs to establish and where any potential failings can be found in that evidence.
At the end of the day, your options are guided by the facts of the case and the hurdles to successful prosecution. Your lawyer may form an alternative arrangement to resolve your case to ensure you are not convicted of driving while prohibited or may arrange for the prosecutor to discontinue prosecution.
Your lawyer may advise you to take the matter to trial, or they may conclude that given all of the circumstances, a plea is appropriate.
In most driving while prohibited cases, there is a resolution that saves the individual from the worst of the punishment that they would face just by pleading out.
It is worth contacting a lawyer to explore your options in your driving while prohibited case. Every case turns on its facts and many cases are resolved when the lawyer for the defense identifies a fact or facts that pose an impediment to the prosecution.
If you are facing a driving while prohibited case, call us for a free consultation and we can discuss your options.