If you’ve been arrested, it is common to feel like you don’t have any rights and are at the mercy of the particular officers that arrested you. Particularly if you have been handcuffed or had force used to arrest you, or if you are held without charge for a lengthy period. However, despite how it may feel when you are under arrest, every person under…
The police must have lawful authority to arrest you. If they do not have lawful authority, the arrest is unlawful. The lawfulness of an arrest can be a very significant factor in any case involving criminal charges. If an arrest is unlawful, it can impact any evidence seized after the arrest occurred. It can also impact on the admissibility of any admissions you are alleged…
The Perth Drug Court was introduced on 4 December 2000, but Drug Courts have existed in the United States as far back as the 1980’s. The court was introduced with a focus on rehabilitating offenders with long-standing drug addiction problems. The court’s focus is on stopping the cycle of offending by drug users, rather than simply handing out progressively harsher sentences as their drug addiction…
The new offence of ‘suffocation and strangulation’ was recently introduced into the Criminal Code under section 298. This new law makes it an offence to ‘unlawfully impede another person’s normal breathing, blood circulation, or both, by: manually, or by using any other aid – blocking (completely or partially) another person’s nose, mouth, or both; or applying pressure on, or to, another person’s neck’. This new…
In a criminal case, there may be a point where you are considering issuing a witness summons. This used to be called a subpoena. A summons is an order of the court. It can be an order to compel an actual witness to come to court and give evidence in support of the defence case. Or, more commonly, to compel someone to produce documentary evidence to…
You just got arrested. Here are the top 3 things you must do if this happens. Being arrested, particularly for the first time, can be extremely stressful. If you’re lucky and the arrest was civil, police might have booked an arrest by appointment. This is where they give you a time to attend the police station and you’re not even handcuffed. You just get led…
The Children’s Court is a unique jurisdiction with many different rules and procedures to the adult courts. The procedure for both trials and sentencing is significantly different for juveniles than it is for adults. This article is a brief summary of some of the major differences. Trial procedure Persons who are actually juveniles (aged under 18), or were juveniles at the time of the offence,…
In Western Australia, and all around Australia, courts permit witnesses to give evidence by means of a “video link”. This means a witness gives evidence from another location, and their evidence is displayed, live, in the courtroom on multiple large monitors. A standard judicial direction is that evidence given by means of a video link is not to be considered any differently from live evidence…
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress in Australia, particularly with the new Omicron variant. The government have introduced various new obligations on citizens to attempt to deal with the risk of the virus spreading. These include mandatory vaccination requirements. This article outlines some of those requirements as it relates to the prisons in Western Australia. Prisons – vaccination requirements In WA, the WA Correctional Facility Entrant…
Both Supreme Court and District Court trials are ordinarily heard before juries. A jury is a random selection of 12 members of the public, unknown to the accused, who have responsibility for determining if the accused is guilty or not guilty. Jurors are generally not legally trained people, although former lawyers can now sit on juries since amendments were made in 2011. For most jurors…
Along with the rest of the State, the courts close down over Christmas and re-open in the new year. Many lawyers offices also close. For accused persons on bail or in custody, this can be a stressful proposition particularly if they have urgent applications or other matters that need to be dealt with right as Christmas approaches. It can also be problematic for people who…
There has been a recent spate of ‘bikie’ or 1% club related shootings in the news in Western Australia. Indeed, many of the articles in the paper relate to bikies these days. It’s not clear if this is because ‘bikie’ crime is on the rise, or news involving bikies just sells papers. In any event, in the last few months: the head of the Rebels…
This article discusses the unfortunately common situation where an accused’s ex-partner (or other associated person) keeps contacting them, despite there being protective bail conditions or a restraining order in place preventing the accused from having any contact with that person. At first blush it might seem bizarre that a ‘protected person’ might keep contacting the person that a restraining order, or protective bail condition, is…
In more and more criminal cases, the prosecution are relying upon what is called ‘propensity evidence’. This is evidence of other behaviour of an accused person not the subject of the charges, usually on other dates, which the accused person generally isn’t currently charged with. For example, an accused is charged with a sexual offence relating to a child under 16. The prosecution might rely…
The process for a criminal case involving multiple accused is far more complex than that involving a single accused. The presence of other accused can make a difference at multiple stages of the process. It will significantly impact the way in which you ultimately defend the charge or charges at trial. This article outlines some of the ways in which cases involving multiple co-accused are…
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