When should a judge stop a trial?

Article

Hemming, Andrew. 2013. "When should a judge stop a trial?" University of Notre Dame Australia Law Review. 15 (1), pp. 56-82.
Article Title

When should a judge stop a trial?

ERA Journal ID36726
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsHemming, Andrew
Journal TitleUniversity of Notre Dame Australia Law Review
Journal Citation15 (1), pp. 56-82
Number of Pages27
Year2013
Place of PublicationFremantle, Australia
ISSN1441-9769
Web Address (URL)http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNDAULawRw/
Abstract

This article is focused on what should happen in a criminal
trial when the trial judge has serious reservations about the strength of the prosecution’s case as the evidence unfolds,or mid-trial the prosecution changes its case against the accused. Two recent cases are used as the vehicle for the analysis. In Wood v R, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal demolished the prosecution case and attacked the Crown prosecutor for failing to put the case fairly to the jury by resorting to fiction, impermissible reasoning and innuendo. In Patel v The Queen, the High Court found that a miscarriage of justice had occurred because on the 43rd day of a 58 day trial, the prosecution had radically changed its case in a way that rendered irrelevant much of the evidence that had been admitted. Such appellate court criticism invites the question: when should a trial judge stop a trial?

Keywordsevidence; strength of prosecution case; fairness of Crown Prosecutor
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020489999. Other law and legal studies not elsewhere classified
Public Notes

Copyright of materials published in UNDALR is vested in the University of Notre Dame Australia School of Law and in each author with respect to his/her contribution.

Byline AffiliationsSchool of Law
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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