The law

[Allen Crisp]

In our lcal paper this week was reported the case of a man accused of drink-driving. He pleaded guilty, but he magistrates have ordered him to plead not guilty following a "complex legal issue" which arose.

 

What might this be? What's the point of making him deny an offence he has admitted? There's no suggestion in the report that he is of unsound mind or anything.

[Grunty]

This is an unfortunate result of the requirement to be fair to everyone, even if they have not been advised by a lawyer.  Sometimes it is because of a technicality that the person was not aware of, or it may be because the police did not have the authority to carry out the test, or did not follow the correct procedure.  This is not necessarily bad behaviour on the part of the police, but they can make mistakes.

A famous lawyer once said "It is better that ten guilty men are dismissed than that one innocent man is convicted".  (Nowadays he would have said 'person').

[Paul22118]

It is not unusual  for magistrates to advise a person to plead not guilty.  Simply saying to the court you agree with everything the police say is insufficient.  Should a magistrate suspect in the slightest that there is actually no clear mind and intention to understand and accept the facts by the defendent then they will sooner hear all the facts via a full (NG) hearing then there can be no dispute. Common reasons are the defendent who pleads guilty to drink drive but when spoken to by the court says "well I thought the breathalyser was malfunctioning!"  A magistrate could not really accept a plea of guilty when the defendent is obviously not 100% happy with the facts.  This is a failsafe method for the court.

[jno]

He may think he was guilty, but it may be the law suggests he isn't - after all, people often don't know all the ins and outs of the law. At any rate, the magistrates must want the chance to think about it.

[Peter Pedant]

well this reads very well but here is a counter case....

an old fella owned a silver ford and got a summons for driving a car which was blue ford through a light

he turned up and pointed out the difference

and yuup pleaded guilty and this was accepted.

Fined and points.

 

I was asked NOT to turn up and blaaart for him as he was eighty and 'just wanted it over with'. I was outraged at this travesty - getting an old guy and taking money off him relying on his just wanting it over.......

[JudgeJ]

Magistrates do have the power to refuse to accept a guilty plea (though obviously they cannot refuse to accept a “Not Guilty” plea). However, they cannot compel a defendant to put forward a defence.

A defendant having his guilty plea declined by the magistrates would stand trial but does not have to offer any defence to the court. The magistrates would then judge the case based on the prosecution evidence alone. In practice, although the prosecution evidence would be more detailed than a simple “statement of facts” which would be presented following a guilty plea, the information before the court would be largely the same.

The Legal Advisor (sometimes, but erroneously, known as the “clerk”) would advise the magistrates on any points of law they need to consider.

Particular care is taken to ensure that proceedings are fair to both sides and this is especially so where, as with drink driving, the defendant can be sentenced to imprisonment.

One other point to consider is that defendants are entitled to a reduction in penalty where they plead guilty. This entitlement could be jeopardised if they plead not guilty, though the Bench would obviously consider the circumstances in which the Not Guilty plea was entered.

[LordyGeordie]

I spend a lot of time in court and you'd be surprised at how many times people plead guilty to offences they have not committed, especially minor offences.

bearing in mind for a minor offence where you're just likely to get a small fine/ community punishment/ conditional discharge, if you plead guilty at the first opportunity you very often get dealt with at your first court appearance. it normally takes around three court appearances for a defendant to reach trial. that means three days off work sitting around with a bunch of scrotes waiting to go into court. there's the likelihood of your name appearing in the local paper after each appearance. with no guarnatee you'll be awarded defence costs and often an increased sentence if you are found guilty after all that. especially if you're self-employed it's often far easier/ cheaper to plead guilty pay �50 fine and get it over and done with.