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Going to
Court 2 – At the Local Court
So you’ve obtained legal advice, thought about your options, put
together your papers and arrived at the Courthouse early with a pen
and paper. What next?
What do I do when I get to the
Courthouse?
Find out where your matter will be
heard
The first thing is to check which Courtroom your matter will be
heard in. All the matters for the day will be listed on sheets
posted in the Court foyer (or some other common area). The list will
tell you the Courtroom and the number of your matter. Write down the
matter number. If you can’t find you’re matter or it’s not on the
list, ask a Court Officer to help you.
Get advice, if you haven’t already
gotten it
If you don’t have a private lawyer,
look for the ‘legal aid duty solicitor’, who will be in a designated
room within the Courthouse. He or she can give you free advice about
your case. Again, if you can’t find the legal aid solicitor, ask a
Court Officer.
Wait for your turn
You will then have to wait until your case is called. If you
don’t have a lawyer, it is a good idea to wait inside the Courtroom
and watch the private lawyers (who usually go first) present their
clients’ cases. If you wait outside the Courtroom, a Court officer
will come out and call you when your matter is reached. If you don’t
have a lawyer, you should be prepared to wait all day for your turn.
Who’s
who in the Local Court?
When you walk into the Courtroom, you
will notice various people standing or sitting at various places.
Each person has a specific and important function, and it helpful to
know what each one does:-
People in the Local Court
Who does what?
1. The Magistrate
The Magistrate decides what happens in
your case. If you plead guilty or are found guilty, he or she will
decide the penalty. If you ask for bail or an adjournment, the
Magistrate will decide whether or not to grant it.
2.
The Prosecutor
It is the Prosecutor’s job to present
the case against you. In less serious matters (called ‘summary’
matters), the Prosecutor will be a police officer with some basic
legal training. In more serious matters (called ‘indictable’
matters), the Prosecutor will be a solicitor from the Office of the
Director of Public Prosecutions.
3. The Defence solicitor
This is your lawyer, who’s job it is
to protect your interests. He or she must advise you about the law
and your options, including whether you should plead ‘guilty’ or
‘not ‘guilty’. Whatever you are advised, you should be aware that
how you plead (‘guilty’ / ‘not guilty’) is ultimately up to you, not
your lawyer. There may be several Defence solicitors at the ‘bar
table’ at any one time.
4. The Court Monitor
The Court Monitor ensures that
everything said in Court is audio-taped.
5. The Court Officer
The Court Officer is there to ensure
the smooth running of the Court list. He or she will call you when
your matter is reached, assist you if you can’t find your name on
the list, and undertake general administrative duties for the
Magistrate. If you have an emergency and can’t wait your turn, the
Court Officer can inform the Magistrate who may consider calling
your matter more quickly. If the Court Officer is busy, ask an
officer in the Court Registry (office) to help you.
6. The Public
Anyone can sit and watch proceedings
in the public area of any Courtroom, except in the Children’s Court
and in special cases where the Magistrate or Judge orders a ‘closed
Court’. In such cases, a ‘closed Court’ sign will be posted outside
the Courtroom. It is always a good idea to attend Court and
familiarise yourself with the Court process before the day of your
hearing. Also feel free to bring family and friends along to support
you at your hearing.
7. Witnesses
Both you (the defendant) and the
prosecution can bring witnesses to Court to give their version of
the events. Witnesses sit outside the Courtroom until they are
called to the witness box.
What do I do when my matter is called?
1. Local Court
When your matter is called, walk
towards the front of the Court. Make sure you bow to the Magistrate
as you enter and leave the Courtroom. If you have a lawyer, sit
behind him or her just in front of the public area; your lawyer will
do the talking for you. If you don’t have a lawyer, the Court
Officer will direct you to a position in the Court; usually a
microphone next to the ‘bar table’ where the lawyers are sitting.
First time matter is in Court
If you don’t have a lawyer, the Magistrate will ask you a number
of questions. The first questions will usually be something like:
·
Are you ........................? (your name)
·
Do you have a lawyer representing you?
·
Are you ready to have your matter dealt with today?
You should address the Magistrate
as ‘your Worship’. If you are ready to proceed, the Magistrate will
read out the charges against you, and then ask you to plead ‘guilty’
or ‘not guilty’. You should never plead guilty until you have
received legal advice.
What
if I’m not ready or my solicitor doesn’t turn up?
If you’re not ready (eg because you want to get more advice) or if
your solicitor fails to show up, ask the Magistrate to stand the
matter over to another day. This is called ‘seeking an adjournment’.
You shouldn’t have a problem getting an adjournment on the first
Court day, provided that you tell the Magistrate why you need one.
Pleading ‘guilty’
If you intend to plead ‘guilty’, it is a good idea to bring 3
written character references to Court with you. The
Character Reference Guide will help your ‘referees’ (ie the
people who give you a reference) properly prepare their references.
When you plead ‘guilty’, the Prosecutor will read the police version
of the events (called the ‘police facts’) to the Court. The
Magistrate may then ask you if you agree with those ‘facts’. You
should tell the Magistrate if there is anything you don’t agree
with. The Prosecutor will then hand up to the Magistrate a bundle of
documents, which will include the ‘facts’, your criminal record and
your traffic record (if it is a traffic offence). It may also
include witness statements against you, your record of interview
with police (if you gave one) and other evidence.
After reading those documents, the Magistrate will ask you if you
have anything to say. If you have brought character references, you
should say ‘may I hand up some character references Your Worship’.
The Court Officer will take the references from you and give them to
the Magistrate. After the Magistrate has read the references, he or
she will again ask you if you have anything to say. At this point,
you should tell the Court a little about yourself (eg if you are
employed, what type of work you do, if you have any children, and
any positive things about yourself, such as charity work you do etc)
and give an explanation of how and why the offence occurred. If
you’re financial situation is bad, you should tell the Magistrate,
so that he or she may consider reducing any fine. Whatever you say,
it is important that you accept your guilt, rather than just make
excuses or blame others for your actions. You should show that you
are genuinely sorry for what you did and that it won’t happen again.
The Magistrate will then decide your penalty (see ‘What’s the worst
that can happen – penalties’).
If
the charges are serious and there is a possibility of a prison
sentence, you can ask the Magistrate to order a ‘pre-sentence
report’ (PSR) and adjourn the matter to another day. You can do this
by saying something like ‘would your Worship consider a pre-sentence
report appropriate in this matter’. A PSR is a report to the Court
by the ‘Probation and Parole Service’. It outlines many things about
you and about the offence; such as who you are, why you may have
committed the offence, whether you are genuinely sorry, whether it
is likely that you will re-offend etc. It also makes recommendations
about which sentencing options are appropriate in your particular
case (eg fine, bond, community service, weekend detention, full-time
prison etc). The Magistrate must consider those recommendations
before sentencing you. After a PSR is ordered, an officer from the
Probation and Parole Service will arrange to meet you for an
interview. The Report usually takes 6-8 weeks to prepare.
Pleading ‘not guilty’
If you plead ‘not guilty’, the Magistrate will give you a ‘hearing
date’, which is when witnesses will attend the Court to give
evidence against you. You can also bring witnesses and supporting
materials (eg documents, photos etc) to the hearing.
On
the day of the hearing, your matter will be called and you will be
shown to the ‘bar-table’ (where the lawyers sit). The Prosecutor
will then tell the Magistrate a little about the case, after which
the Prosecutor will call and question witnesses one at a time (this
is called ‘examination-in-chief’). You should take notes of any
answers you feel are wrong or anything you might want to ask each
witness. After the Prosecutor has finished with a witness, you will
be able to ask that witness questions (this is called
‘cross-examination’)
Finally, if your questions raise new facts or issues
that weren’t raised by the Prosecutor’s questions, the Prosecutor
may then ask the witness questions about those facts or issues only
(this is called ‘re-examination’, and is a little more complicated).
So there can be three stages in questioning a witness:
examination-in-chief, cross-examination, and re-examination.
After all the prosecution witnesses have given their evidence, you
may then call your witnesses and ask them questions (your
‘examination-in-chief’). The Prosecutor will have the opportunity to
‘cross-examine’ each of your witnesses. And lastly, if the
Prosecutor’s questions raised new matters or issues, you can
‘re-examine’ your witness about those things only.
After the questioning has finished, you will be given a chance to
comment on all of the evidence (this is called a ‘closing
statement’). You should point out the strengths in your case (eg how
your witness gave credible evidence to support your version of the
events) and any weaknesses in the Prosecution case. When you have
finished, the Prosecutor will give his or her ‘closing statement’.
The Magistrate will then decide whether to dismiss the charges (ie
find you ‘not guilty’) or to convict you (ie find you ‘guilty’). It
is important to keep in mind that the prosecution must prove the
charges against you beyond reasonable doubt. If it fails to
do this, the charges against you must be dismissed, and you will be
free to go without penalty.
For more information on examination in chief, cross examination,
re-examination and closing statements, see next topic: ‘General
Stages in a District or Supreme Court Trial’.
What is a ‘committal hearing’?
If you have been charged with a
serious offence (called an ‘indictable offence’), a Local Court date
may be set down for a Magistrate to decide whether there is enough
evidence for your case to go to the District or Supreme Court for a
trial before a judge and jury. This procedure is called a ‘committal
hearing’. You don’t have to enter a plea at the committal hearing.
However, if you plead ‘not guilty’ and the Magistrate decides that
there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to
convict you, your case will be sent to trial; this is called
being ‘committed to stand trial’. If you plead ‘guilty’, your matter
will be listed for sentencing in the District or Supreme Court; this
is called being ‘committed for sentencing’.
If
you wish to have a certain prosecution witness brought to the
committal hearing, you must let the Magistrate know on the Court
date before the committal hearing. So, if you go to Court on
5th June and the Prosecutor wants to set a committal
hearing for 28th June, you must tell the Magistrate on 5th
June that you want a particular witness brought to the committal.
The Magistrate will then set a separate Court date for you to
explain why you want that particular witness brought to the
committal hearing (eg you may want to question the witness about
inconsistencies in his statement to police). This is called a
section 48E application.
What happens after the ‘committal hearing’?
If you are ‘committed to stand trial’,
the Director of Public Prosecutions will prepare a document that
lists each charge being brought against you. That document is called
an ‘indictment’. There may be several charges on the indictment and
each charge is called a ‘count’. The indictment is then sent to the
appropriate District or Supreme Court, which will list the matter
for trial: see next topic: ‘General stages in a District or Supreme
Court Trial’.
How can
a solicitor help me?
If you are summoned or charged, you
should
contact a solicitor (lawyer) who is familiar with the criminal
law. He or she can:
·
advise you of your rights;
·
explain the charges against you;
·
explain your alternatives;
·
make a
bail application for you in Court (if you are refused bail by
police); and
·
represent you at your Court hearing.
For personalised advice and/or Court representation:
Contact us now
For more
information, see:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lac/lac.nsf/print/goingct | 
