didds wrote:If person A is due for prosecution in a magistrate's court and has too little money to even contemplate having a solicitor, thus relying on the duty solicitor... how does the defence call suitable witnesses such as medical staff/professionals that may be pertinent to the case? Arrange a list of likely case law etc ? Im sure the duty solicitor will do their very very best but with such limited time in many cases to prepare (I've been told potentially the half an hour prior to the case with no prior discussions etc with the accused is not unusual)?
If a defendant wants to plead not guilty then the magistrates would simply adjourn the case, so as to give him time to instruct a solicitor and have a defence prepared. Legal aid is still available for some criminal defence.
I haven’t practised in criminal defence work for decades, but I'll never forget one of my very earliest jobs. I was newly qualified, and we'd received a call for the solicitor in our firm who was duty solicitor for the day. However, for some reason he was unavailable, so I was deputed to stand in his place.
I don’t think I’d appeared in the magistrates' court before, so I was extremely nervous.
I, of course, knew nothing about the case at all when I arrived at the court, and only had a few minutes to take instructions. The client was an elderly chap who had been charged with nicking a bottle of whisky from a local supermarket - not exactly the crime of the century.
As he'd been caught red-handed there was no defence, and he was more than happy to plead guilty, so my job was limited to mitigation.
In the crash course I’d been given before leaving the office I was told to look at his `previous', as it would be very material to sentencing. However, I’d forgotten to ask him, so I had to ask the CPS solicitor for details just before we kicked off.
He rummaged in his file and gave me a sheet of paper with a long list of previous convictions, at which my heart sank. Even for such a minor offence a long history of convictions might mean a custodial sentence, so I was beginning to sweat a little ...
... until I noticed with huge relief that the last conviction was over 10 years earlier at Ipswich Assize Court.
Happy day! I therefore played this as my trump card, aiming to dissolve the stony hearts of the magistrates with my tale of an elderly man who had indeed led a life of crime, but had evidently seen the light many years ago and reformed, only to be tempted by a bottle of whisky in the twilight of his days.
All seemed to be going well, until the chairman of the bench lowered his spectacles, peered at me and said, "When did you say your client's last conviction was?"
"5 August 1970 in Ipswich Assize Court" I replied.
"Well according to our records your client was convicted of shoplifting in Wigan Magistrates' Court on 23 September last year."
Somewhat flustered, I turned to my CPS colleague for clarification. He had another rummage, and with a whispered apology handed me page 2 of my client's list of previous ...
Fortunately, the magistrates either saw the funny side of it or felt so sorry for my client at having such an inept advocate that they fined him £25, which earned me his eternal gratitude and a promise to recommend me to all of his friends!