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Criminal Procedure Act 2011

General provisions - Solicitor-General's responsibility for oversight and conduct of certain prosecutions

191: Power of Solicitor-General or Crown prosecutor to add new charges

You could also call this:

"The Solicitor-General or Crown prosecutor can add new charges to a case without the court's permission."

Illustration for Criminal Procedure Act 2011

If you are the Solicitor-General or a Crown prosecutor, you can add new charges to a case without asking the court first. You do this by filing a notice under section 189 and then filing another notice to add the new charges.

You can add new charges at any time before the trial, as long as it is within a certain time period after you filed the first notice. When you add new charges, it is like you filed a new charging document for each charge, as if you did it under section 14.

The notice you file to add new charges meets some requirements, like those in section 138(1), but section 138(2) does not apply. You also have to follow the rules about how long you have to file the charging document, which is in section 25.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3865766.

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Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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"The government lawyer can change the charges against someone without asking the court first."

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Part 5General provisions
Solicitor-General's responsibility for oversight and conduct of certain prosecutions

191Power of Solicitor-General or Crown prosecutor to add new charges

  1. Without the leave of the court, the Solicitor-General or a Crown prosecutor may, on filing a notice under section 189 in relation to a proceeding, or before the trial and within any prescribed period after filing that notice, file in the court hearing the proceeding a notice to add any new charge or charges to that proceeding.

  2. For the purposes of this Act,—

  3. a charging document is deemed to have been filed in accordance with section 14 in respect of each new charge specified in the notice; and
    1. a notice filed under subsection (1)—
      1. satisfies the requirements of section 138(1); and
        1. section 138(2) does not apply when new charges are added to a proceeding in accordance with that notice; and
        2. section 25 (time for filing charging document) applies to the new charges.

          Notes
          • Section 191(2)(b): replaced, on , by section 12 of the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 25).