<<Back

Why use a Criminal Lawyer?

Being arrested and charged with a criminal offence will be without doubt one of the most difficult and stressful times in your life; certainly not a time that you should go through alone. You will not only be dealing with an alien process that can be complicated and confusing, but also with the distressing prospect of heavy fines, community service orders or even imprisonment. These distressing outcomes will not only negatively impact upon your life but also on the lives of those you love and who depend upon you.

To best pass through this process with your livelihood intact you need the services of an experienced criminal law specialist helping, representing and advising you from the point of arrest, through the committal hearing, and the trial.

This article will set out some of what a specialist criminal lawyer will do through all stages of the criminal justice system (from arrest to trial) to help safeguard the future of you and your family by gaining a fair and just outcome.

Being Arrested

After being arrested your rights will include being able to have a lawyer represent you throughout all dealings with the Police who have arrested you and who are investigating the offence they believe you were involved in. The Police Custody Manager should inform you of this right when you arrive at the Police Station.

At this point your lawyer will be able advise you of your rights while under arrest, explain your alternatives and the nature of the criminal law process you will go through. Your lawyer will also be able to ensure that your rights are not violated and that the Police proceed with their interviews with you in a lawful manner.

The Committal Hearing or Mention

If, after interviewing you, the Police believe they have enough evidence to charge you with an offence your lawyer will be able to make a bail application for you and represent you in the ‘committal hearing' or ‘mention' (depending on whether the offence was ‘indictable' or ‘summary'). The hearing is held before a Magistrate in the Local Court and is the next step in the criminal law process.

At this hearing you will hear the charges that are being brought against you and you will be asked to plead. Evidence will be presented that will present a ‘preview' to what may happen in a full trial. At the committal hearing your lawyer will be able to bring forward evidence in order to answer the charge, which will also be used to argue for you to be given bail.

For some summary offences such as drink driving this hearing will operate more as a chance to hear the charges and move to the next step, rather than hold a preview of the case. In legal tradition the committal hearing was intended to filter out criminal cases that have little evidence to back them up and to enable those that have merit to continue to the next step; at the committal hearing the Magistrate therefore must determine whether:

• the charged person should be given bail or sent into custody to await trial; and
• there is a enough evidence for the charge to be proven at trial.

While the Magistrate's decision on this question will most often be final, you should be aware that the Department of Public Prosecutions is empowered (in certain circumstances) to bring a person to trial without the charge being heard at a committal hearing.

For charges being ‘mentioned' by the Court, the accused will be given the chance to plead. If they plead ‘guilty' then a Magistrate will give sentence at a later stage. If the charged person pleads ‘not guilty' then the case will go to a contested hearing.

The Trial

If the Magistrate determines that there is enough evidence for the charge to be proven at trial then you will either be bailed to face a trial later or be held in custody until the trial proceeds. The trial will most often take place before a Judge and less often before a Judge and a jury.

During the trial the Prosecution will present evidence that they believe prove your guilt and your lawyer will present evidence that rebuts this. Where the evidence is in the form of statements from witnesses, your lawyer will have the chance to ‘cross-examine' and challenge the interpretation of events as given by particular witnesses.

Apart from ruling on the final outcome of the trial, the Judge will make many smaller decisions on what evidence may be presented and, if there is a jury, will ‘sum up' the case for the jury, providing them guidance on how they should make their decision. During the trial your lawyer will be the defender of your rights in the trial and will be constantly vigilant of them to be sure that you are given every chance of gaining a fair outcome.

When the judgment is handed down and it is against your interests, your lawyer will be able to advise on the best ways of appealing the decision in a higher Court.

Do I really need a lawyer?

The art of successfully arguing a legal case in Court is a very difficult skill to learn. Specialist criminal lawyers spend years learning about the law and practicing to build their skills; in order to navigate yourself through this difficult time and emerge with the most just and fair result you will need the services of such a qualified criminal law specialist.

During your passage through the criminal justice system your criminal law specialist lawyer will become an indispensable champion for your rights, keeping you informed and ensuring that you receive a just and fair outcome.

If you are facing criminal charges, don't risk leaving your future to a duty solicitor or a lawyer without specialist criminal law experience. When you need to ensure that you get the best and fairest outcome from the criminal justice system, call the specialists at George Sten & Co. who know the system the best. Indeed, you should not think of whether you can afford to have the services of criminal law specialist lawyers, but whether you can afford not to have them; at $300 for an hour consultation with a specialist at George Sten & Co., it could be the very best money you have ever spent.

Back