CASE MANAGEMENTAND PRE-TRIAL HEARINGS

Question 1

6

MAGISTRATES’ COURT—CASE
MANAGEMENT FORMS

Answer 1

1. Once plea before venue is completed and summary trial elected (or, in the case of summary only offences, once a not guilty plea is entered), the court proceeds to case management.
2. a case management form includes:
   *Details of witnesses to be called;
   *Details of agreed prosecution witnesses (whose statements can be read);
   *Estimated length of trial;
   *Any likely applications to the court;
   *Any special arrangements (such as an interpreter); and
   *Confrmation that the defendant has been advised on credit for early guilty plea and that the trial will proceed in their absence if they fail to attend.

Question 2

3

MAGISTRATES’ COURT—CASE MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS

Answer 2

*The prosecution must serve its evidence within 28 days;
*The defence must serve a defence statement (if it is to be served) within 14 days and notify which prosecution witnesses are required to attend within 7 days.

Question 3

5

CROWN COURT—PRELIMINARY HEARINGS

Answer 3

When an indictable only matter is sent to the Crown Court, a preliminary hearing will take place within 14 days of being sent if
1. the trial is likely to last more than four weeks
2. there are case management problems to address
3. an early trial date is needed
4. one of the defendants is under age 18
5. there is likely to be an early guilty plea

Question 4

4

CROWN COURT—PLEAAND TRIAL PREPARATION HEARINGS

Answer 4

1. A plea and trial preparation hearing takes place **28 **days after the case was sent from the Magistrates’ Court.
2. The defendant will be arraigned, which means their plea will be taken on the indictment. Sometimes, the prosecution will agree to ‘offer no evidence’ on some counts if the defendant pleads guilty to others, or to let some counts ‘lie on the court file’.
   These both mean that the count will not be pursued in exchange for the defendant’s guilty plea to other counts.
3. If a defendant pleads guilty, the court will proceed to sen-tencing . A defendant may ask for an indication of sentence (called a Goodyear indication) before entering plea. If the judge agrees to give an indication and the defendant then pleads guilty, the judge will be bound by their indication.
4. If the defendant pleads not guilty, the judge will set a trial date after requiring counsel to advise on the facts of the case

Question 5

4

PROSECUTION’S DUTY OF DISCLOSURE AND UNUSED MATERIAL

Answer 5

1. The prosecution ordinarily has 50 days (or 70 if the defendant is on bail) to complete disclosure.
2. It is under a duty to disclose **all the evidence **upon which it intends to rely at trial. It is also under a duty to disclose any unused material which might reasonably be considered capable of undermining the case for the prosecution or assisting the case for the defence.
3. This duty is ongoing, so the prosecution must apply this test to any material that comes to light before or during trial.
4. If the prosecution seeks to withhold disclosure of sensitive material (for example, material that would compromise national security or intelligence operations), an application must be made to court in chambers to withhold the material on the grounds of public interest immunity.

Question 6

4

DEFENCE’S DUTY OF DISCLOSURE

Answer 6

1. Once the prosecution has made disclosure, the defence have 28 days to serve a defence case statement on both the prosecution and the court.
2. This must set out the nature of the defence, including what facts of the prosecution case are disputed, what alternative facts the defence alleges, what points of law the defence wishes to raise, and details of any alibi witness, if relevant.
3. If the defence fail to serve an adequate defence case statement on time that reflects the defence
   put forward at trial, an adverse inference may be drawn.
4. The defence case statement is deemed to be approved by the defendant.