A criminal charge is not a conviction. Every case moves through a set process, and each stage has its own rules and its own decisions. Most people charged with a crime have never seen this process before. This guide explains it from start to finish: what happens at each stage, what the court expects from you, and where cases actually end.
The criminal law process in Ontario is the same at every courthouse in the province, including the Orangeville courthouse where Foote Law appears regularly.
How a Criminal Case Begins
A criminal case starts in one of two ways:
- Police arrest you
- You receive a summons or an appearance notice in the mail or in person, with a court date on it
After an arrest, police make the first major decision in your case: release you, or hold you for a bail hearing. If they release you, you will be given a release document. It states your court date, and it usually contains conditions. Common police release conditions include no contact with the complainant, no attendance at a specific address, and no possession of weapons. These conditions bind you the moment you sign the document, not the day you first see a judge.
Our guide to what happens after you are arrested in Ontario covers this stage in full, including your rights during and after the arrest.
Your Fingerprint Date
If your charge is indictable or hybrid, your release document usually includes a date to attend the police station for fingerprints and photographs. Attendance is mandatory, and a missed fingerprint date is itself a criminal offence. If your charge is later withdrawn, you can apply to have the fingerprints and photographs destroyed.
The Bail Hearing
If police hold you, you must be brought before a justice of the peace or a judge within 24 hours, if one is available. The hearing decides one question: released or detained while the case proceeds.
The court must start from the least restrictive option. This is called the ladder principle. Release without conditions sits at the bottom of the ladder, and the Crown must justify each step up: conditions, then a surety, then detention. The court can only detain you on three grounds:
- To make sure you attend court
- To protect public safety, including any risk to the complainant or witnesses
- To maintain public confidence in the justice system
For most charges, the Crown carries the burden of showing why you should not be released. For certain serious offences and for people charged while already on release, the burden reverses, and you must show why release is appropriate.
A surety is a person, usually family or a close friend, who promises the court to supervise you and pledges an amount of money. The court examines the surety’s finances, character, record, and ability to supervise, and the surety may have to testify. It is illegal to pay someone to act as your surety.
If you are released, common conditions include:
- No contact with the complainant or witnesses
- No attendance at their home or workplace
- A requirement to live at a specific address, sometimes with the surety
- A curfew
- No possession of weapons
- Regular reporting to police or a bail supervisor
Two More Things About Bail
A breach of any condition is a new criminal charge, separate from the original one, and it makes release much harder the second time. And conditions are not permanent: with the Crown’s consent they can be changed, and without it, your lawyer can bring a bail review in the Superior Court of Justice. If you are detained, the same review route exists to challenge the detention order.
Your First Court Appearance
The first appearance is not a trial. No witnesses testify, no evidence is heard, and you usually do not enter a plea. The court wants answers to four questions:
- Are you present?
- Do you have a lawyer, or have you applied for legal aid?
- Has disclosure been requested or received?
- What is the next step, and what date should it happen?
Arrive early, at least 30 minutes before court starts. If you do not have a lawyer, your disclosure is often handed to you at the front of the courtroom when your name is called; if you have one, it goes to your lawyer. Most first appearances end in an adjournment to a new date. That is normal, and it is not a bad sign.
Attendance at every court date is mandatory. If you miss one, the court can issue a warrant for your arrest, and a failure to appear is a separate criminal charge.
Duty Counsel and Legal Aid
Duty counsel are free lawyers at the courthouse, funded by Legal Aid Ontario. They can advise you on the spot and speak for you on basic matters that day, including adjournments and some bail hearings. For ongoing representation, Legal Aid Ontario issues certificates that pay a private lawyer for those who qualify financially. Foote Law accepts Legal Aid Ontario certificates.
Attending by Video
At most courthouses, routine case management appearances can be attended by video. Some smaller court locations require attendance in person, and a guilty plea is generally entered in person. Your release document, the court’s website, or your lawyer will confirm what applies at your courthouse.
Case Management in Court
Between the first appearance and the end of your case, you will likely attend several brief case management appearances, often before a justice of the peace. Each one answers practical questions:
- Has all disclosure arrived?
- Have you retained a lawyer, or has legal aid been resolved?
- Have Crown or judicial pretrials been scheduled or completed?
- Is the case ready for resolution or ready to set a trial date once any required pretrials are done?
At the end of each appearance, the court sets the next date and states what each side must do before it. Each date is mandatory unless the court excuses you or your lawyer is permitted to attend for you.
Disclosure (The Case Against You)
You have the right to all relevant information in the Crown’s possession, subject to narrow exceptions such as privileged material. Disclosure typically includes:
- The information, which is the document stating your charges
- The police synopsis of the allegation
- Officers’ notes
- Witness statements
- Video, photographs, and any records police gathered
Full disclosure often takes weeks to arrive, and it does not stop: disclosure is an ongoing obligation, so the Crown must keep providing relevant material as it surfaces, and your lawyer can request specific items that appear to be missing.
No decision about your case should be made before disclosure is reviewed. It is the basis for everything that follows: what to negotiate, whether a trial makes sense, and whether the Crown can prove its case at all.
The Charge Screening Form
The disclosure package includes a charge screening form. This one-page document states the Crown’s position on your case:
- Whether the Crown will seek jail if you plead guilty or are found guilty
- Whether you are eligible for diversion
- Often, whether the Crown is proceeding summarily or by indictment
Read it carefully with your lawyer. It tells you more about where your case is heading than anything else in the package.
The Crown Pretrial
After disclosure has been reviewed, your lawyer meets with the Crown prosecutor. This meeting happens out of court, and you generally do not attend. It covers:
- Disclosure that is still outstanding
- The strengths and weaknesses of each side’s case
- The issues a trial would actually need to decide
- Resolution options, including withdrawal, diversion, a peace bond, or a plea to a reduced charge
The Ways a Case Ends Before Trial
Most criminal cases in Ontario never reach a trial. These are the paths that end them earlier.
Withdrawal (The Crown’s Two Screening Questions)
The Crown screens every charge against two questions: is there a reasonable prospect of conviction, and is prosecution in the public interest. If the answer to either is no, the charge will be withdrawn. Much of a defence lawyer’s early work is directed at showing the Crown that one of those answers is no.
Diversion and Direct Accountability
For eligible charges, usually less serious ones, the Crown offers diversion. You complete work up front, and the charge is withdrawn or stayed. The work can include:
- Community service hours
- Counselling for addiction or mental health
- A letter of apology
- A donation
- An educational or rehabilitative program
A diversion court worker helps set up the program and confirms completion to the court. Diversion ends the case without a conviction. If you do not complete the program, the original charge proceeds.
Peace Bonds
A peace bond ends the case without any finding of guilt. You agree to conditions for a set period, usually one year, and the charge is withdrawn. A peace bond is not a conviction and not an admission of the offence, but its conditions are court orders, a breach of them is a criminal charge, and a peace bond can have consequences of its own while it lasts. Whether to accept one is a decision to make with legal advice.
Pleading Guilty
Some cases resolve by a guilty plea, usually after negotiation over which charge and what sentence position. A plea carries every consequence of a conviction, including the record. It is a decision only you can make, and it should never be made before disclosure has been reviewed and you have received advice.
The Specialized Courts
Many Ontario courthouses run specialized streams built around treatment and support:
- Mental Health Court, for accused people with mental health issues, including mental health diversion and fitness matters
- Drug Treatment Court, for people whose charges are driven by addiction
- Indigenous Person’s Court, sometimes called Gladue Court, for Indigenous accused
- Community Support Court, covering both mental health and addiction
- Integrated Domestic Violence Court, handling related criminal and family matters together
A case can move into one of these at almost any early stage, including bail. Which streams exist depends on the courthouse. If your circumstances fit one, entry into the right stream can change the entire course of your case.
The Road to Trial
If no resolution ends the case, it moves toward trial. Four decisions shape that road, and each one changes what the trial looks like.
What the Crown’s Election Changes (Summary or Indictable)
Most criminal offences are hybrid, and the Crown chooses how to proceed. The election changes:
- The maximum penalty available
- Which courts and trial options are open to you
- The procedure and timelines that apply
- Whether the charge can proceed at all, because a summary prosecution generally must start within 12 months of the alleged offence
A summary matter stays in the Ontario Court of Justice, before a judge alone. An indictable matter opens up choices that are yours to make.
Which Court, Judge or Jury (Your Election)
For many indictable offences, you elect the mode of trial:
- Trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, judge alone
- Trial in the Superior Court of Justice, judge alone
- Trial in the Superior Court of Justice, judge and jury
A small number of offences carry no choice: the least serious belong to the Ontario Court of Justice, and the most serious must be tried in the Superior Court. The election is a strategic decision, made with advice, based on the issues in your case and who should decide them.
The Judicial Pretrial
Before a trial date is set, most courthouses require a judicial pretrial: a meeting between a judge, the Crown, and your lawyer. You do not attend unless you are unrepresented. The meeting covers:
- Whether resolution is still possible, including withdrawal or a plea
- Which issues the trial actually needs to decide
- What applications each side intends to bring
- How much court time the trial realistically needs
The pretrial judge gives both sides a frank assessment of their positions. A resolution reached here, including a guilty plea, can be dealt with by the pretrial judge.
The Preliminary Inquiry
A preliminary inquiry is available only where the offence carries a maximum of fourteen years or more and you have elected trial in the Superior Court. It is not a trial. It is a hearing that tests whether the Crown has enough evidence to send the case to trial, and it is now focused on the specific issues and witnesses the parties identify. For the cases that qualify, it also gives the defence an early look at key witnesses under oath.
Charter Applications and the Time Limit on Your Case
Some of the most important decisions in a criminal case happen before any witness testifies at trial. Charter applications ask the court to enforce your rights, and the common ones challenge:
- A search of your home, car, phone, or person, where evidence found can be excluded
- A stop or detention that was arbitrary, which can taint everything found after it
- A statement taken from you without proper access to a lawyer
- The delay in getting your case to trial
On delay, the Supreme Court’s framework in R. v. Jordan sets firm ceilings: eighteen months from charge to the end of trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, and thirty months in the Superior Court. Delay above the ceiling is presumed unreasonable, and the remedy is a stay, which ends the case. Delay caused by the defence does not count toward the ceiling, and exceptional circumstances can justify time above it.
The Trial
The trial is where the burden of proof does its work. The Crown goes first and must prove every element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt. That burden never shifts.
- Crown witnesses testify, and your lawyer cross-examines each one
- When the Crown closes its case, the defence chooses whether to call evidence
- You may testify, call witnesses, or call nothing at all, because you have no obligation to prove anything
- Both sides make closing arguments, and the judge or jury decides
The Verdict
There are two verdicts: guilty or not guilty. Not guilty means an acquittal. For the accused, that is the end of the charge, but an acquittal is not always final: the Crown can appeal it, on questions of law, within its own 30-day deadline. Guilty means the case moves to sentencing. A guilty verdict on one charge can also come with acquittals on others, because each charge is decided on its own.
Sentencing
Sentencing can happen the same day or at a later hearing. Both sides make submissions, the court may order a presentence report about your background, and victims may file impact statements. There is no single sentence for most offences, though some carry mandatory minimum penalties. Depending on the offence and the circumstances, outcomes include:
- An absolute or conditional discharge, where legally available, which avoids a conviction
- A suspended sentence with probation
- A fine
- A conditional sentence served in the community, where permitted by law
- Jail, which for sentences of 90 days or less can sometimes be served intermittently, such as on weekends
The court can also order restitution and ancillary orders, including weapons prohibitions and DNA orders, depending on the offence. For Indigenous accused, the court must consider the person’s background and the systemic factors that brought them before the court. A conviction produces a criminal record, which is covered in the final section below.
Appeals
The deadline is strict: a notice of appeal must generally be filed within 30 days of sentencing. Miss it, and you must bring a motion to extend time, which is not automatic.
- Summary conviction appeals go to the Superior Court of Justice, heard by a single judge in your region
- Indictable appeals go to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, heard by a panel of judges
- A summary conviction appeal decision can be taken further to the Court of Appeal, but only with the court’s permission and only on a question of law
An appeal is not a second trial. The court reviews the case for legal error, an unreasonable verdict, or a miscarriage of justice, and no new evidence is heard except in limited circumstances. Release on bail while an appeal is decided is possible and has its own test.
Your Criminal Record After the Case
What remains after a case depends entirely on how it ended:
- A withdrawal, a stay, or an acquittal is not a conviction, and you can apply to have your fingerprints and photographs destroyed
- An absolute discharge is a finding of guilt without a conviction, and it is removed from the record system after one year; a conditional discharge, after three years
- A conviction produces a criminal record that does not expire on its own
A criminal record affects employment, travel, professional licensing, and immigration status, and those effects usually last far longer than any sentence. A record is not necessarily forever: after a waiting period set by law, you can apply to have it sealed through a record suspension. Our guide to criminal record suspensions in Ontario, sometimes still called a “pardon,” explains who qualifies, the waiting periods, and how to apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a criminal case take in Ontario?
It varies by charge and courthouse, but the Supreme Court’s framework in R. v. Jordan sets presumptive ceilings of 18 months in the Ontario Court of Justice and 30 months in the Superior Court of Justice. Many cases resolve well before then through diversion, withdrawal, or a plea.
Do I have to go to every court date?
Yes. Attendance is mandatory unless the court excuses you or permits your lawyer to attend without you. Missing a date can result in a warrant for your arrest and a separate charge for failing to appear.
What’s the difference between a peace bond and a discharge?
A peace bond ends the case with no finding of guilt; you simply agree to conditions for a set period. A discharge is a finding of guilt without a formal conviction: an absolute discharge is removed from the record system after one year, a conditional discharge after three.
Will I automatically get a criminal record if I’m found guilty?
Not always. A guilty finding can still result in a discharge, which avoids a conviction. But a fine, probation, a conditional sentence, or jail all produce a criminal record.
Speak With a Criminal Lawyer in Orangeville
Every stage of this process involves decisions, and the early ones shape everything after them. A lawyer involved from the start can protect your release conditions, review the disclosure properly, and put the strongest resolution or defence forward at the right stage.
Foote Law defends criminal charges at the Orangeville courthouse and across Ontario, in person and virtually. We accept Legal Aid Ontario certificates. Contact Foote Law today to schedule a confidential consultation.
