Objectives:
This assignment is an opportunity for you to try out both your generic legal writing skills and your understanding of some key points of criminal procedure. It seeks to emulate a task commonly given to law graduates in various professional contexts. The exercise is designed to develop and assess your ability in respect of the following learning objectives for this course:
• knowledge and understanding of legal systems and criminal process;
• thinking and analytical skills;
• basic research skills (particularly in respect of case law);
• communication skills;
• self-management.
This exercise builds upon material briefly touched on in lectures, but cannot not be adequately answered simply from that material. Some research is needed (most particularly case law research, but feel free to venture a little further if you wish).
A criteria sheet for the marking of this assessment will be posted separately on the StudyDesk.
The exercise:
Pretend that your law firm supervisor (Vera J) is acting for a woman from Brisbane named Kate. Kate and her former de facto partner Bert have been charged with various drug-related offences (production, possession and trafficking). At a pre-trial hearing, both Kate and Bert were refused bail by a judge of the Supreme Court.
At that hearing, Kate also made an application for a separate trial (ie separate from Bert) which was also refused. Vera J is concerned about these rulings. With respect to the bail application, Vera J asks you to consider the possibility that the judge effectively reversed the applicable onus of proof – requiring Kate and Bert to establish that there was not an unacceptable ‘risk of flight’. The relevant portion of the judge’s reasons reads as follows:
I am not satisfied – having regard to the quantities of drugs involved, the strength of the Crown case and the unaccounted for proceeds of sale – that the risk of non-attendance (upon a grant of bail) is acceptable.
With respect to the rejection of the application for a separate trial, Vera J is concerned that some of the evidence against Bert is inadmissible against Kate (ie cannot be used against her). Vera J feels that whatever caution is exercised by the prosecution, and however carefully the judge ultimately directs the jury, Kate will be disadvantaged because of the risk that the jury might well draw conclusions about Kate from the evidence against Bert.
Vera J asks you to prepare a research memorandum dealing with the following issues in respect of the above matter:
1. As regards the bail application, find and briefly explain the relevant provisions of the Bail Act 1980 (Qld).
2. As regards the joinder issue (and the refusal of a separate trial), find and briefly explain the provisions of the Criminal Code dealing with the charging of multiple persons in the one indictment.
3. Might either of your supervisor’s concerns (noted above) be the basis for a successful appeal from the judge’s rulings?
Some careful research is required, particularly required in relation to point 3 above.
Instructions (to be read in conjunction with the original Assessment Overview)
1. The memo should be typed in Word format. Use 1.5 line spacing, and Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font. Please use headings as appropriate (these need not be included in the wordcount).
2. Submit your assignment through Turnitin and EASE (see the additional information provided in the Assessment Overview and the links on the StudyDesk).
The memo must be submitted (simultaneously with the Turnitin report) through EASE by 13 Oct 2014. Importantly:
a. Please allow sufficient time prior to this deadline to complete the Turnitin process (as explained in the Assessment Overview). We suggest that, to be safe, you submit what you feel to be your completed assignment to Turnitin at least 2 days before the EASE submission deadline. That will both ensure that any difficulties don’t prevent you from meeting the deadline, and also allow time for you to make any last minute changes to respond to the turnitin results.
b. To convert the Turnitin report to a ‘loadable’ form, choose the option to print (from the .html version), and then from the print options page select to convert to PDF and save. Then submit that version together with your assignment.
c. You must only submit once, so ensure you are entirely happy with the assignment (and have the turnitin report ready) before you submit. Submit them both at the one time.
d. Please don’t leave it until the last minute to submit to EASE – the system can get very busy and freeze in the final minutes.
3. There is no standard coversheet or front page to be attached to your assignment, however the following information must be clearly included at the start of the assignment:
• Name
• Student number
• Course title & code, and name of assessment item
• Word count (see below)
It is quite acceptable for you include a coversheet / front page if you wish to (but beware that turnitin may pick up a lot of similarity in the coversheet!). The marking criteria is provided (just for your own reference) in a separate document loaded to studydesk.
4. The style used in the assignment must conform to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. You must use footnotes where appropriate. A bibliography is not required.
5. The maximum word length is 1000 words (not including basic footnote references). Your word count should be conducted in accordance with a Microsoft Word word-count (untick the ‘include footnotes’ option). However, if your footnotes include not just the names of cases, legislation, articles etc, but also actual text, you should manually count these additional words and add them to your final word count. The final word count must be noted clearly on your assignment.