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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

Procedure before trial - Provisions applying only to jury trial procedure - Trial before Judge alone may be ordered

102: Judge may order Judge-alone trial in cases likely to be long and complex

You could also call this:

"The court can choose a judge-only trial for very long and complex cases."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

If you are charged with a crime, you usually have the right to a trial by jury. The court can decide that you will have a trial without a jury if your case is likely to be very long and complex. This can happen if the prosecutor asks for it or if the court decides it is necessary.

The court must listen to what you and the prosecutor have to say before making this decision. They will only make this decision if they think the trial will still be very long even if they make some changes to speed it up. They also need to think that the jury might not be able to do their job properly because of the complexity of the case.

When the court is thinking about this, they will consider things like how many crimes you are charged with and how much evidence there will be. They will also think about how long the trial will take and how this might affect the jury. If you are being tried with other people, you will all usually have a jury trial unless the court decides that none of you will have a jury.

This rule does not affect what is said in section 103.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3360166.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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"Special rules for keeping national security information secret in court cases"

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103: Judge may order Judge-alone trial in cases involving intimidation of juror or jurors, or

"The court can choose a Judge-only trial if someone on the jury is being bullied or threatened."

Part 3Procedure before trial
Provisions applying only to jury trial procedure: Trial before Judge alone may be ordered

102Judge may order Judge-alone trial in cases likely to be long and complex

  1. This section applies if the defendant is charged with an offence that is not—

  2. an offence for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for life or imprisonment for 14 years or more; or
    1. an offence of attempting or conspiring to commit, or of being a party to the commission of, or of being an accessory after the fact to, an offence referred to in paragraph (a).

      1. The court may, on the application of the prosecutor, or of its own motion, order that the defendant be tried for the offence before a Judge without a jury.

      2. An application by the prosecutor under subsection (2) must be made before the trial within the time prescribed by rules of court.

      3. The court must not make an order under subsection (2) unless the prosecutor and the defendant have been given an opportunity to be heard in relation to the application and, following such hearing, the court is satisfied—

      4. that all reasonable procedural orders (if any), and all other reasonable arrangements (if any), to facilitate the shortening of the trial have been made, but the duration of the trial still seems likely to exceed 20 sitting days; and
        1. that, in the circumstances of the case, the defendant's right to trial by jury is outweighed by the likelihood that potential jurors will not be able to perform their duties effectively.

          1. For the purposes of subsection (4)(b) the court must consider the following matters:

          2. the number and nature of the offences with which the defendant is charged:
            1. the nature of the issues likely to be involved:
              1. the volume of evidence likely to be presented:
                1. the imposition on potential jurors of sitting for the likely duration of the trial:
                  1. any other matters the court considers relevant.

                    1. If the defendant is one of 2 or more co-defendants to be tried together, all of them must be tried before a Judge with a jury unless an order under subsection (2) for all of them to be tried by a Judge without a jury is applied for and made.

                    2. This section does not limit section 103.

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