Beating the law !

A wise man once observed " that those who represent themselves in court - have a fool for a client ! "

It is indeed a good idea to engage the best lawyer you can afford if you are accused of a crime.  He or she will examine all the nuances of the law - as it applies to the charges levelled against us, and seek out any exploitation of that law which can be used to set us free.

So it is in Victoria, where a person accused of serious crimes has applied to change his plea from " Guilty " to " Not Guilty ", because a very clever lawyer has discovered that the charges brought by the police may not have met the standards required by the law.

Police evidence submitted to the court needs to have been " sworn " to be the truth.  This " swearing " is similar to the procedure that awaits all those about to enter the witness box at a trial.  A bible or a Koran is produced and they are required to take this in their hand and swear on it that they will tell the truth in the evidence they are about to give.

When police produce an affidavit of what they observed or learned at a crime scene they are required to do precisely the same.   It seems that in at least Victoria, custom has replaced this actual procedure with just signing the affidavit - and this fails the test of the law.

The ramifications are staggering.  Lawyers will be examining legions of past cases in which the withdrawal of affidavits on the grounds of failed legality may see convicted felons walk free from prison.   In many cases, the key to conviction rested on those same affidavits.

If nothing else, this failure could be a financial disaster.   If the challenges to convictions are upheld, it may be possible to apply for a retrial, but not only will this clog the courts, the cost to the police and the state prosecutors office will be huge - not to mention the cost to the prisoners - who will need to brief counsel for a new round of defence hearings.

At this stage, the fiasco is limited to Victoria, but you can be certain that lawyers in all states will now be carefully examining the affadavit procedure that applies in their  courts.

A very good reason for procuring the best lawyer that money can buy !