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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

Procedure before trial - Provisions applying only to Judge-alone procedure

79: Pre-trial admissibility hearing and order that evidence admissible

You could also call this:

"A hearing before trial to decide if evidence can be used in court"

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

Before a trial, you might have a special hearing to decide if some evidence can be used. At this hearing, the court makes sure each side gets a chance to say what they think. The court can then decide that the evidence is allowed.

The court can set conditions for the evidence to be used. It can decide how and when the evidence is used. You can still try to use other evidence during the trial, even if the court makes a decision about some evidence before the trial.

The court's decision does not change its ability to decide what evidence to use during the trial. It also does not affect your right to try to use evidence you think is important. You can find more information about this in section 78.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360143.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law
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78: Court may order pre-trial admissibility hearing if trial to be Judge-alone trial, or

"The court can decide if evidence is allowed before a Judge-alone trial starts."

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79A: Pre-trial admissibility hearing: national security information, or

"Secret national security information in court cases: special rules apply"

Part 3Procedure before trial
Provisions applying only to Judge-alone procedure

79Pre-trial admissibility hearing and order that evidence admissible

  1. The court at a pre-trial admissibility hearing must give each party an opportunity to be heard.

  2. The court may make an order that the evidence is admissible.

  3. The order may be made on any terms and subject to any conditions that the court thinks fit.

  4. Nothing in this section, or section 78, or in any order made under this section, affects—

  5. the right of the prosecutor or the defendant to seek to adduce evidence that he or she claims is admissible during the trial; or
    1. the discretion of the court at the trial to allow or exclude any evidence in accordance with any rule of law.

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