Trial
If you plead not guilty the court will fix a date for your trial or may, in the Crown Court, put it in a warned period of one or two weeks when it could be heard on any day. You will need to arrange for any witnesses you wish to call in your defence to attend court on the trial date. When they do so, they will have to wait outside court and not discuss the case until after they have given their evidence.
Before trial the prosecution must disclose to you details of any 'unused material', (evidence in their possession that they will not be using at trial, which may be relevant to your case). You must have the chance to examine it.
In the Crown Court you must then provide to the court and the prosecution a brief statement of your defence in outline. In the Magistrates' Court this is optional but if you provide a defence statement the prosecution must once again review all material in their possession and disclose anything which may be relevant to your defence in light of your statement.
When the trial begins, the prosecution will open their case with a brief speech setting out what they intend to prove against you. They then call their witnesses in turn and play any tape or video evidence. Normally the prosecution will provide you with copies of any statements or other evidence on which they rely beforehand, and in the Crown Court they are required to do so .If you are taken by surprise you may need to ask for an adjournment to consider the evidence or to obtain further evidence of your own.
The basic rule is that evidence must be given orally in court on oath. You will have the opportunity to question each prosecution witness in turn. This is called cross-examination and when you do so you must state which parts of the witness's evidence you dispute and give them the chance to respond.
Written statements cannot be read out in court unless you or your lawyer have been given a copy and have not objected to this. There are certain limited areas in which written evidence can be read without agreement, for instance, where the court allows it because a witness is abroad, or is absent having been put in fear, or a statement is compiled from details of transactions a witness could not be expected to remember. For this to happen an application has first to be made to the court in writing and on notice to the other party, who can then oppose it. Objects or documents produced by a witness may become exhibits which form part of the evidence in the case.
The general rule is that the prosecution will not be able to call evidence about any previous convictions you may have or other misconduct by you in the past. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If the prosecution wants to call such evidence they must make a written application, on notice to you or your solicitor, stating how the evidence is relevant to the new case and how the exception that they want to rely on to call the evidence applies.
At the end of the prosecution case, if they have failed to provide any evidence of a vital ingredient of the charge against you, you can make a submission to the court that there is no case for you to answer. If the submission succeeds, the judge will direct the jury to acquit you.
Once the prosecution has closed their case, and provided the judge has not ruled that there is no case for you to answer, you will have the opportunity to call evidence in your defence. As part of your defence you have the choice of whether or not to go into the witness box and give evidence yourself. If you do so, you will be cross-examined by the prosecutor. If you do not, you risk the court concluding that you have no answer to the charge, or none that will stand up to cross-examination.
Afterwards you may then call any witnesses in your defence whom the prosecution will be able to cross-examine and you or your lawyer then makes a concluding speech arguing your case. In the Crown Court the judge will then sum up the case to the jury, explaining the law and reminding them of the evidence, unless it has been a very short case. Then the jury or the magistrates retire to consider their verdict.
Burden and Standard of Proof
The basic safeguards for the defendant in English trials are known as the 'burden' and 'standard' of proof.
The 'burden' of proof is on the prosecution. They bring the case and they must prove, by admissible evidence, each element of the charge against you. Another way of describing this is the 'presumption of innocence': you do not have to prove your innocence, it is presumed unless and until the prosecution prove the contrary. There are certain limitations to this basic proposition. For instance, where you argue self-defence on an assault charge, you will have to raise some evidence that you felt yourself to be at risk of attack, which the prosecution then has to disprove.
The 'standard' of proof is that the jury, or magistrates, must be sure of your guilt. Another way of expressing this, less commonly used nowadays, is that they must be satisfied, 'beyond reasonable doubt', that you committed the offence charged. If not - say, for example the jury think you probably committed the offence but cannot be sure that you did - then you should be found not guilty. Jury verdicts must be unanimous unless, after two or three hours, the judge allows a majority verdict of ten jurors. The magistrates' verdicts are by majority.
Verdict
The verdict of the court is one of guilty or not guilty. A not guilty verdict is not a finding of innocence, as you do not have to prove your innocence, but means that, as the prosecution failed to prove by admissible evidence that you committed the offence, you are presumed to be innocent. Where you are tried and found not guilty you normally cannot be tried again for the same offence although there have been recent changes in the law that allow a retrial on the same offence in certain circumstances.
If you are acquitted, you can apply to the court for your personal expenses and your legal costs to be reimbursed, but not for any loss of earnings. Your witnesses can claim their expenses and also loss of earnings from the court whatever the outcome. You may also wish to consider a civil claim against the police where, for instance, there is evidence of malicious prosecution (see Chapter 5). See also How to Get Redress
Before trial the prosecution must disclose to you details of any 'unused material', (evidence in their possession that they will not be using at trial, which may be relevant to your case). You must have the chance to examine it.
In the Crown Court you must then provide to the court and the prosecution a brief statement of your defence in outline. In the Magistrates' Court this is optional but if you provide a defence statement the prosecution must once again review all material in their possession and disclose anything which may be relevant to your defence in light of your statement.
When the trial begins, the prosecution will open their case with a brief speech setting out what they intend to prove against you. They then call their witnesses in turn and play any tape or video evidence. Normally the prosecution will provide you with copies of any statements or other evidence on which they rely beforehand, and in the Crown Court they are required to do so .If you are taken by surprise you may need to ask for an adjournment to consider the evidence or to obtain further evidence of your own.
The basic rule is that evidence must be given orally in court on oath. You will have the opportunity to question each prosecution witness in turn. This is called cross-examination and when you do so you must state which parts of the witness's evidence you dispute and give them the chance to respond.
Written statements cannot be read out in court unless you or your lawyer have been given a copy and have not objected to this. There are certain limited areas in which written evidence can be read without agreement, for instance, where the court allows it because a witness is abroad, or is absent having been put in fear, or a statement is compiled from details of transactions a witness could not be expected to remember. For this to happen an application has first to be made to the court in writing and on notice to the other party, who can then oppose it. Objects or documents produced by a witness may become exhibits which form part of the evidence in the case.
The general rule is that the prosecution will not be able to call evidence about any previous convictions you may have or other misconduct by you in the past. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If the prosecution wants to call such evidence they must make a written application, on notice to you or your solicitor, stating how the evidence is relevant to the new case and how the exception that they want to rely on to call the evidence applies.
At the end of the prosecution case, if they have failed to provide any evidence of a vital ingredient of the charge against you, you can make a submission to the court that there is no case for you to answer. If the submission succeeds, the judge will direct the jury to acquit you.
Once the prosecution has closed their case, and provided the judge has not ruled that there is no case for you to answer, you will have the opportunity to call evidence in your defence. As part of your defence you have the choice of whether or not to go into the witness box and give evidence yourself. If you do so, you will be cross-examined by the prosecutor. If you do not, you risk the court concluding that you have no answer to the charge, or none that will stand up to cross-examination.
Afterwards you may then call any witnesses in your defence whom the prosecution will be able to cross-examine and you or your lawyer then makes a concluding speech arguing your case. In the Crown Court the judge will then sum up the case to the jury, explaining the law and reminding them of the evidence, unless it has been a very short case. Then the jury or the magistrates retire to consider their verdict.
Burden and Standard of Proof
The basic safeguards for the defendant in English trials are known as the 'burden' and 'standard' of proof.
The 'burden' of proof is on the prosecution. They bring the case and they must prove, by admissible evidence, each element of the charge against you. Another way of describing this is the 'presumption of innocence': you do not have to prove your innocence, it is presumed unless and until the prosecution prove the contrary. There are certain limitations to this basic proposition. For instance, where you argue self-defence on an assault charge, you will have to raise some evidence that you felt yourself to be at risk of attack, which the prosecution then has to disprove.
The 'standard' of proof is that the jury, or magistrates, must be sure of your guilt. Another way of expressing this, less commonly used nowadays, is that they must be satisfied, 'beyond reasonable doubt', that you committed the offence charged. If not - say, for example the jury think you probably committed the offence but cannot be sure that you did - then you should be found not guilty. Jury verdicts must be unanimous unless, after two or three hours, the judge allows a majority verdict of ten jurors. The magistrates' verdicts are by majority.
Verdict
The verdict of the court is one of guilty or not guilty. A not guilty verdict is not a finding of innocence, as you do not have to prove your innocence, but means that, as the prosecution failed to prove by admissible evidence that you committed the offence, you are presumed to be innocent. Where you are tried and found not guilty you normally cannot be tried again for the same offence although there have been recent changes in the law that allow a retrial on the same offence in certain circumstances.
If you are acquitted, you can apply to the court for your personal expenses and your legal costs to be reimbursed, but not for any loss of earnings. Your witnesses can claim their expenses and also loss of earnings from the court whatever the outcome. You may also wish to consider a civil claim against the police where, for instance, there is evidence of malicious prosecution (see Chapter 5). See also How to Get Redress
