Magistrates¢ Court Procedure.
Magistrate¢s court procedure and the rules of evidence and disclosure are extremely complex.

Before Court.
There are, broadly speaking, two ways to bring a criminal prosecution to court ¢ charge and bail at the police station or the issuing of a summons.

A person charged at the police station MUST attend court to surrender to bail, a failure to do so without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence which can carry imprisonment and may lead to a defendant being remanded into custody until the conclusion of the case.

A person required to attend in response to summons is expected to attend court but can have a legal representative attend on his/her behalf or can sometimes simply write in to court and ask that written representations are read out to the magistrates.

There are procedural requirements that the police and prosecuting authority MUST follow before the case gets to court which, if dealt with incorrectly, can lead to the case being withdrawn or discontinued by the prosecutor or, following legal argument at court, dismissed by the court. For example:

Timescales for the issuing of a summons.
Are you aware the laying of an information (the formal process asking the court to issue a summons) must be done within a certain period of the offence? The Magistrates¢ are not allowed to try people for certain offences if this has not been complied with.

Notices of intended prosecution.
Are you aware that for certain offences the police MUST give notice of intended prosecution within a fixed (and short) period of the offence itself and if they fail to do this that the case against you  MUST fail.

The first hearing
At the first hearing of the case progress is expected by the court. Usually in road traffic cases there is one of three outcomes. The defendant pleads guilty and the case is dealt with to a conclusion, the defendant pleads not guilty and the case is adjourned to a pre-trial review hearing (where a final trail date is fixed) or there is an application to adjourn the case by either the defence of prosecution to decide on plea, obtain extra information or to seek advice.

Pre-trial review
At the pre-trial review the court will ask the defendant and prosecutor a number of questions to check that the case is progressing properly, to enable the fixing of a final trial date and to ensure that both parties are properly dealing with disclosure and the rules of evidence.

The trial
At trial the court will hear an opening speech from the prosecutor, evidence from live prosecution witnesses (who the defendant may cross-examine), statements of non-contested witnesses will be read out (together with notes of anything the defendant may have said in police interview) and the defendant will then have the opportunity to give evidence himself (this will expose him to cross-examination) and to give a closing speech. After hearing all the evidence the magistrates will retire to consider their verdict.

If a not guilty verdict is returned then the case against the defendant will be dismissed and it may be possible to make an application for the defendant¢s legal costs to be paid from central funds.

If a guilty plea is entered then the court will proceed to sentence the defendant.

The rules of evidence MUST be adhered to at trial. Certain prosecution or defence evidence may not be admissible and it is important to know before and during trial exactly which evidence is and is not admissible. Some evidence can become inadmissible if the proper procedures have not been adhered to by the police or prosecution.

Sentencing
Once a guilty plea has been entered or, after trial, a guilty verdict returned then the court will proceed to sentence the defendant. The court have very wide sentencing powers and have sentencing guidelines for each types of offence from  fines, penalty points and driving bans to community orders and even imprisonment in the most serious cases. Occasionally following a guilty plea or verdict the case will have to be adjourned for probation reports (serious cases only)

At the sentencing hearing is important that the defendant understands the magistrates¢ court sentencing guidelines in order to be able to draw to the courts attention the appropriate mitigating features in the case to ensure the best possible outcome.

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