Court Proceedings & Plea Negotiation FAQs
To find out if you’re choosing the BEST Criminal lawyer for your case, check if he knows the answers to the technical questions below and see if he can explain them to you in a simple and clear way that you can easily understand.
Court Process
When will you need to attend Court?
You must attend Court when you’ve been charged for committing a criminal offence. During Court proceedings, you must answer to or defend the charge.
You’ll be charged in Court after the Police investigations have been completed and they feel they have enough evidence or reason to take action against you for the criminal offence.
Before you attend court, you’ll be told beforehand of the date of the first appearance and the details of the charge – this is usually when the Police issue you with the Charge and record a Cautioned Statement from you.
What happens at your first Court hearing?
When you first attend Court to answer to the Charge, the charge (i.e. details of the type of offence, how it was committed and the prescribed punishment) will be read and explained to you in Court in the language which you understand and by an interpreter if you need.
You must also check that your Criminal lawyer explains the following:
- The Charge contains the key details of the offence g. date, time, location, offending criminal act or conduct in question, the value of the property involved and identity of the victim.
- If you’re accused of committing more than one offence, each offence will usually be stated in a separate Charge.
- If other people are accused of committing the offence together with you, they’ll be charged together with you for the same offence and separate charges will be preferred against them.
After the Charge is read to you, you must tell the Court of the course of action you want to you to take i.e. either:
- You choose to Plead Guilty (i.e. you are prepared to accept the punishment for the offence, and you wish to admit to the charge and request for a lighter punishment)
- You choose to Claim Trial (i.e. you deny that you committed the offence, and you wish to prove your innocence at a trial in Court)
Please remember that is not compulsory to immediately plead guilty to the charge at your first appearance in Court because you’re allowed to ask to adjourn or postpone the case to choose your next course of action.
Can you ask for more time at your first Court hearing to decide what to do next?
You can ask the Court to adjourn or postpone the case to another later date if you need more time to prepare your case or if you need to consult a Criminal lawyer before you choose your next course of action.
The Court will look at your reasons for the adjournment and decide if they are justified or not.
If the case is adjourned, you’ll need to give Court bail to make sure you attend the next hearing in Court or whenever needed.
Plea Negotiation & Plea Bargaining
How do you plea bargain?
You can plea bargain or plea negotiate by conveying your clarification, explanation and request regarding the Charge or offence in a written letter of appeal (i.e. Letter of Representation) to the Public Prosecutor (i.e. Attorney-General’s Chambers) containing your reasons and arguments to persuade them to take a more lenient course of action against you.
Although you can choose to prepare and send this appeal by yourself, you should consult a good Criminal lawyer to better understand what facts, explanations and evidence will be important for the Prosecution’s consideration of your appeal.
After you’ve communicated your Representations, the Public Prosecutor will review your reasons for the appeal and decide if they justify granting your request.
If you are advised and represented by a good Criminal lawyer, your appeal will have the benefit of containing the correct material to highlight the facts and circumstances that are important for the Public Prosecutor’s consideration and include appropriate issues of law and government policy that you won’t be familiar with.
The Public Prosecutor has final and absolute authority to decide what type of prosecutorial action to take against you such as:
- Whether to charge you with committing a criminal offence or only issuing you with a warning instead
- Whether to charge you for a more serious or less serious type of criminal offence
- Whether to charge you for many separate offences or only fewer offences
- Whether to request for the Court to sentence you to a heavier or lighter punishment
You can consider appealing to the Public Prosecutor to take more lenient action against you in the following ways:
- Only issuing you with a warning instead of charging you in Court
- Charging you with a less serious type of criminal offence instead of a more serious type of offence
- Charging you for fewer offences instead of many more separate offences
- Requesting for the Court to impose a lighter sentence instead of heavier punishment against you
After the Public Prosecutor decides on the type of prosecutorial action taken against you, you must eventually decide if you want to plead guilty or claim trial to the Charge.
What if you need more time to plea bargain and plea negotiate?
If your plea bargaining and negotiation process need a lot more time, you can request for the Court to assign the case to be dealt with in an administrative hearing known as a Pre-Trial Conference (PTC).
A PTC is a closed-door Court hearing before a Judge and attended by your Criminal lawyer and a Prosecuting Officer (e.g. Deputy Public Prosecutor). You must attend the PTC if you’re not represented by a Criminal lawyer.
At the PTC, the Judge asks for updates on the progress and developments in the case, including the status of your plea bargaining and negotiation process with the Public Prosecutor.
If you or your Criminal lawyer need more time to prepare your case or if you need more time to prepare your written appeal, you can request for the Court to adjourn the case to another later date.
When the Public Prosecutor has made a final decision on the type of prosecutorial action taken against you, you must inform the Court of whether you eventually decide to plead guilty or claim trial to the charge.
If you decide to plead guilty, the Court will schedule a hearing in an open courtroom setting (i.e. a Mention) for you to officially plead guilty to the charge and be sentenced.
If you decide to claim trial instead, the Court will schedule hearing dates for the trial to take place.