Part 8 – Trial judge's summing up Flashcards
S65 Trial judge’s obligations when summing up
In his/her jury summing up, TJ (a) must explain only so much of the law as is necessary for the jury to determine the issues in the trial; (b) must refer the jury to the way in which the P and the A have put their cases in relation to the issues in the trial but need not summarise the closing addresses of the P and the A
(c) need not give summary of the evidence but in accordance with s66 must identify so much of the evidence as is necessary to assist the jury to determine the issues in the trial
(d) can use combination of oral/written components in summing-up
S66 Trial judge required to identify only evidence
necessary for determination of issues
(1) TJ required to identify only so much of the evidence given in trial as is necessary to assist the jury to determine the issues in the trial
(2) In determining whether and if so to what extent identification of evidence is necessary under subsection (1), the TJ must regard —
(a) the facts in issue; (b) their complexity (c) length of the trial (d) complexity of the evidence; (e) submissions / addresses of P and A (f) any reference to the way in which the P and A have put their cases re: trial issues (g) any special needs/disadvantages of jury in understanding/recalling evidence (h) any evidence transcript in trial or any other doc. provided to assist jury to understand evidence.
(3) TJ may also have regard to anything else considered appropriate
S67 Trial judge may give integrated directions
(1) In this section, integrated directions means the (3) directions.
(2) TJ may give JD that contain/ or are in the form of factual questions that address matters jury must consider or be satisfied of in order to reach a verdict, including the elements of the offence and any relevant defences.
(3) TJ may give ID combining above factual questions with
(a) directions on evidence and how evidence is to be assessed, or (b) references to the way in which the P and the A have put their cases in relation to the issues in the trial; or
(c) any evidence identified under s 66
(4) TJ who addresses a matter (a) by a factual question need not also address the matter in any other direction, or (b) in ID need not also address the matter in directions that are not ID
