More Rumpold than Rake
Ben Harvey of the West Australian comments hopefully on my legal knowledge rather than my physical shape. (West Australian Newspaper 13 July 2020)
https://www.pressreader.com/australia/the-west-australian/20200713/281749861652080
Procedural Fairness
An important decision from the High Court was published today, concerning the obligations of prosecutors to adduce evidence of mixed-statement records of interview: Nguyen v The Queen [2020] HCA 23.
Whilst the case at first instance comes from the NT, where the Uniform Evidence Act provisions apply, doubtless the judgment will have an impact here despite that fact.
The WA DPP sought to intervene in the hearing but was refused leave to do so.
Covid 19 Discount in sentencing
Is the Covid 19 sentencing discount a thing?
Well….Yes it is. To recognise the considerable hardship that remand prisoners suffered in the Covid 19 pandemic, the District Court is providing a “Covid 19” sentencing discount.
What that discount is will depend on the judge, the length of the sentence to which a prisoner will be subject to and the individual factors submitted by the Prosecutor and Defence.
It is impossible to say beyond an educated guess what that discount amounts to in an actual time, but the very fact that the recognition is there demonstrates that the District Court is aware of the significant impact that remand prisoners felt when the pandemic prevented their loved ones from seeing them in prison.