Criminal Trial Process / Juries Flashcards
What are the three stages of a criminal trial?
Pre-Trial
Trial
Post-Trial
What is the criminal pre-trial stage?
Preliminary hearings to determine whether a prime facie case exist
Police department gathers evidence and presents to DPP
DPP must present all evidence to defendant at least 14 days before hearing
Application for bail
Pleas
What does the criminal trial stage consist of?
Accused is arrainged - information is read out about them and they plea guilty or not guilty
Jury is empanneled
Examination in cheif (DPP)
Cross-examination (Defence)
Re-examination (DPP)
Examination in cheif (Defence)
Cross-examination (DPP)
Re-examination (Defence)
Evidence in reply (DPP)
Closing Addresses
Judge’s Summary
Verdict
What does the criminal post-trial stage consist of?
Sentencing hearing
DPP and defence make submissions before a sanction is given.
Prior convictions and factors taken into account
What are juries?
A jury is a random selection of people who sit, as peers of the accused, at a criminal trial to decide the verdict of an accused person charged with an indictable offence. Most juries are comprised of 12 adult jurors, although the Juries Act 1927 (SA) allows up to 15 jurors to be empanelled.
What is the role of the jury?
A jury’s fundamental role is to decide whether an accused person is guilty of not guilty (ie decide the verdict) of the crime for which he or she is being tried. A jury must only reach a verdict based solely on the admissible evidence presented at the trial, in accordance with the law as explained by the trial judge.
What are the types of jury verdicts?
Unanimous
Majority
Hung
Perverse
What is an unanimous jury verdict?
All jurors come to the same conclusion
Murder requires it
What is a Majority jury verdict?
Accepted by judge after 4 hours of deliberation 11-1, 10-2 (With 12 jurors).
What is a hung jury verdict?
No statuary majority - Mistrial
What are the strengths of a jury?
An accused person’s guilt or innocence is determined by his/her peers and not agents of the State.
This can prevent the abuse of government power
Democratic
Shared-decision-making.
Weakness of a jury
Not a true cross section of the community
Elderly citizens over 70 years of age are ineligible
Large proportion of immigrants with a poor command of the English language are excluded
Large number of people excused eg professionals or business positions.
Jurors are unqualified in legal matters and many have difficulty weighting and applying evidence to reach a logical conclusion
Non-disclosure of reasons for a verdict
Jurors are not held accountable.
Faulty logic or personal biases.
What are some reforms to jury system?
Juries should somewhat have a say in the sentencing process instead of solely the judge.
Jurors should have a brief education in the legal system before they can sit on the jury.
Juries should give a reason for their verdict.
Have one foreperson for the jury who has had sufficient legal training.
Introduce a ‘not proven guilty’. Like the inquisitorial system, allow the jury to make a ‘not proven guilty’ verdict so if more evidence surfaces after the first trial, the accused can be retrialed.
Who is eligible to serve on the Jury?
Prospective jurors must be between 17 and 71 years of age and registered on the House of Assembly electoral roll.
What are the factors of staturoy ineligibility for jury duty?
The Juries Act determines those employed in the Criminal Justice system are ineligible. This includes.
Police officers (and their spouses)
Judges (and their spouses)
People employed in the courts administration process
Practising lawyers
Which persons are disqualified from Jury Duty?
People who have committed a serious offence in the past or who are currently awaiting trial, sentencing or on parole.
What is the process for jury selection?
Jury manager request 6,000 eligible names each year from the electoral role
Vetting by the police commissioner (400 randomly selected names are vetted by the PC who checks eligibility)
Summoning (Jury manager sends out 220 summons to potential jurors for that month)
Final vetting (individual jurors must identify themselves as ineligible or disqualified, apply to be excused or advise the jury they will report - 140 jurors identified to do a months jury service)
Monthly jury induction ( 140 jurors assemble where they are registered, issued a jury number and sworn in, judge or justice will inform them of their responsibilities and roles)
Empanelment
How are juries empanelled?
This is the formal selection of 12-15 jurors to sit on the jury panel from the jury section assembled in the public gallery of a criminal court room before the parties begin to present their cases.
Jury sections assemble in the public gallery and the Judge calls the prosecution to call all witnesses.
Jurors can be excused of they have an “association”
Jurors names are selected randomly, thejuror moves towards the jury box
Defence and prosecution each permitted:
3 peremptory challenges (without cause)
Unlimited challenges with cause (judge approval)
The judge decides whether or not to approve the application for dismissal of a juror
The parties are given the opportunity to challenge jurors
The Juries Act allows up to 15 jurors to be empaneled at the discretion of the judge, but only 12 jurors will deliver a verdict.
If more than 12 jurors are still on the panel at the end of the trial, a ballot is conducted to remove the excess
The jury foreperson cannot be excluded by this process
