17 April 2020
Criminal - COVID-19 and court procedure
We have a listing next week in the local court. It is the first return of a Court Attendance Notice. With the current COVID-19 situation, can we enter a plea of guilty for our client and make submissions without actually attending court? If so, is there any advantage or disadvantage to doing so?
Thank you for the question.
The ongoing response to Coronavirus means that emergency measures are rapidly being introduced to modify the usual procedures. Refer to each court's website.
The following information is from the COVID-19 page on the Local Court website:
There is no need to attend court. A plea can be entered by completing this written notice of pleading form [Word doc], [PDF doc] and emailing it to the relevant court (see section 'how do I contact the court'). You will then be notified by email as to the next step in the process.
Anecdotal evidence from practitioners is that early guilty pleas are being strongly rewarded at the moment and unusual leniency is currently being granted in many sentencing cases.
Regards
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