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Criminal Appeals - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Appeal against sentence only
    - - Entire case re-heard, previous decision may be confirmed, reversed or varied
      - Heard by
        
        Circuit judge
        
        2-4 magistrates who hadn't heard the initial case
  - - - R v Mildenhall Magistrates' Court, ex parte Forest Health DC(1997) magistrate can refuse to state the case if the application is frivolous, misconceived, hopeless or academic. The magistrate must issue a certificate and defendant can apply for judicial review of the refusal.
- - - - Fresh evidence can be admitted if:
        
        The evidence could afford a ground for allowing the appeal
        
        The evidence would have been admissible at trial
        
        There is a reasonable explanation why it had not been adduced at trial.
        
        The evidence is capable of belief
    - - Criticised because the Court of Appeal was close to straying out of its jurisdiction. The function of the Court of Appeal was to consider whether the conviction was safe, not whether the defendant was guilty.
  - - - Significant injustice has probably been done
      - The circumstances are exceptional
      - There is no effective alternative remedy
  - - - The first was William Dunlop, who had been tried for the murder of Julie Hogg. He plead guilty during the re-trial
      - The second was Gary Dobson, who had previously been acquitted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence. new evidence had come to light proving his guilt
- - - - The process of appealing by way of case stated should be simplified. Additionally, all appeals and judicial review from the Crown Court should be heard by the Court of Appeal.
  - - - 28-day time limit to file appeal has expired
      - Appeal has already been heard and dismissed
    - - CA can dismiss a referral if the only ground of appeal is that has been a development in the law since time of conviction
  - - - Error of law
      - Error of fact
      - Length of sentence
- - - - Herbert (1966)
        
        a 3rd tier of appeal is illogical
      - Adds to cost & delay
      - No notable change made to criminal law by Supreme Court
      - Glanville Williams
        
        Chancery judges should not have the casting vote in criminal appeals
    - - CA too large to produce certainty in the law, whereas SC only has 12 judges
      - 40% of criminal appeals to SC were successful
  - - - s17 allowed Home Secretary to refer cases that had passed the ordinary time limit to the Court of Appeal. eg. Birmingham Six
      - Only 10-20 referrals were made out of 730 applications
      - Court of Appeal was reluctant to allow appeals under s17
  - - - Lord Denning
    - - Unflattering media coverage e.g. Birmingham Six
      - Unfair due to passage of time
        
        Governments have been known to prosecute war criminals for crimes committed during WWII, so the argument that the passage of time would weaken witness evidence is not always correct
      - Open the floodgates of relitigation and appeals
    - - Where jury has not seen all evidence, or evidence has been falsified, appeals should not be seen as criticism of the jury
      - Do not want to weaken public confidence in jury system
    - - CA should always allow appeal where there has been police misconduct