NALA ACP Criminal Litigation cheat sheet

Case progression in the magistrates' court runs through the Criminal Procedure Rules: the first hearing sets directions, and an allocation decision follows if the offence is either-way.

Under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, prosecution initial disclosure follows a not guilty plea and defence service of a defence statement; unused material is scheduled as sensitive or non-sensitive.

A defence statement must be served within 14 days of initial prosecution disclosure in the Crown Court and magistrates' court, and must set out the nature of the defence and points of law in issue.

The hearsay gateway under s.114 Criminal Justice Act 2003 includes unavailable witnesses, fear, business records, interests of justice, and agreement of the parties; s.116 provides specific categories.

Bad character evidence is admissible under s.101 Criminal Justice Act 2003 through seven gateways, including agreement, propensity, and important matter in issue between prosecution and defence.

The turnbull direction requires a special warning on identification evidence where the prosecution case depends substantially on identification, addressing lighting, duration, distance, and prior knowledge.

Exclusion of unfair evidence under s.78 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 requires significant adverse effect on the fairness of proceedings, not merely a breach of PACE or the Codes.

The right to silence: adverse inferences may be drawn under s.34 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 from failure to mention facts later relied on, provided the accused was cautioned and the facts were ones an innocent person could reasonably be expected to mention.

The burden of proof rests on the prosecution throughout; the criminal standard is beyond reasonable doubt, and the defence bears only an evidential burden for most defences.

Voir dire: where the admissibility of a confession is challenged under s.76 PACE 1984, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was not obtained by oppression or in consequence of anything said or done likely to render it unreliable.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 s.116(2) unavailable-witness gateway requires the witness to be dead, unfit, outside the UK, or not identifiable, and the court must consider whether the evidence should be excluded.

Sentencing: the statutory maximum for summary-only offences is 6 months' imprisonment and/or a fine; either-way offences tried in the magistrates' court carry a maximum of 12 months for a single offence.

Custody threshold under s.152 Criminal Justice Act 2003: a custodial sentence may only be imposed if the offence is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence can be justified.

Credit for a guilty plea: under the Sentencing Council guideline, a reduction of one-third applies at the first reasonable opportunity, reducing to one-quarter after trial preparation, and to one-tenth at the trial date.

The Criminal Procedure Rules require the prosecution to serve the case for the prosecution and the defence to serve a defence statement in accordance with the court's timetable; non-compliance can lead to costs or adverse comment.

An application to dismiss under s.78A Criminal Justice Act 2003 must be made in writing within 28 days of service of the prosecution case, and the court applies the same test as for a submission of no case to answer.

Appeals from the magistrates' court go to the Crown Court by way of rehearing under s.108 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980, or by case stated to the High Court on a point of law.