Crown Court

INTRODUCTION

There are slightly fewer than one hundred Crown Court centres throughout England and Wales. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Old Bailey, in central London. The Crown Court deal with the most serious criminal cases including murder and rape, but currently with other less serious matters such as theft and assaults. The main feature of the Crown Court is that matters are tried by Judge and Jury.

MAGISTRATES COURT COMMITALS

There are several routes by which cases can arrive at the Crown Court. The most obvious of these is that a Magistrates' Court commits a trial to the Crown Court. Some offences can only be tried in the Crown Court, such as murder. Other offences such as theft can be heard by a Crown Court if either the Magistrates' Court decides the matter too serious for them to deal with, or the Defendant chooses to assert his right to a Crown Court trial. Certain minor offences cannot be tried in the Crown Court, for example many road traffic offences.

There are two other main routes by which cases reach the Crown Court. The first of these is if a Defendant pleads guilty in the Magistrates' Court but the Court does not have sufficient powers to sentence (i.e. the Court believes that the sentence may be more than six months detention). The other way is by way of appeal from a decision from either a verdict or sentence of the Magistrates' Court.

COURT PROCEEDINGS

Proceedings in the Crown Court are very formal. They are presided over by a Judge who will be an experienced and trained lawyer. The Judge's role is to sort out any procedural issues, rule on any points of law, and ultimately sentence. Usually Barristers will represent the Defendant and Prosecution. The role of the Jury is limited but fundamental. The only role of the Jury is to decide the verdict in relation to a particular allegation. They do not decide on sentence. Appeals are not heard by a Jury, but by a Judge sitting with one or two Magistrates.

PRE TRIAL HEARING

Typically a Crown Court trial will follow in three distinct stages. Firstly there will be a pre-trial hearing presided over by the Judge. This will normally be a Plea and Directions Hearing. The purpose of this is for the Defendant to make his plea and any administrative matters to be sorted out. Normally the date for trial will be set on this occasion. Often this will not be a specific date, but the trial will be placed in a "warned list". This means that the trial may be called on at very short notice during a specified time frame. It is the Defendant's responsibility to contact his Solicitors every evening to see if his case is being heard the next day. Even once a date has been set, there is no guarantee that the trial will start on that date, as may other factors can intervene.

TRIAL

The second stage is the trial itself. Depending on the complexity of the trial, this may take several days, or in large trials even months. If the verdict is one of not guilty, the Defendant will be released, and will be entitled to make an application for certain costs incurred in the course of the trial. If the verdict is one of guilty then the Court will move onto the next stage of sentencing.

SENTENCING OPTIONS

Frequently the case will be adjourned following a guilty verdict for a period of about one month to allow the Probation Service time to prepare an independent report on the sentencing options for the Court. However, if the offence is especially serious, and the sentence inevitable, for example a serious assault committed by someone who has previously been convicted of a similar attack, or if the offence is relatively trivial, the Court may proceed straight to sentence.

APPEALS

It is possible to appeal against either a conviction or sentence of the Crown Court. This is a particularly complex area. However, it is worth noting that the time scale for doing so is very short, normally within 14 days, and it is very difficult to launch an appeal outside those time limits.

CONCLUSION

This is intended as a very brief summary of the workings of the Crown Court, and cannot cover all aspects of procedure, or anything more than an outline of the most commonly occurring types of proceedings. Detailed and specific legal advice will nearly always be required before, during and after any Crown Court proceedings.