ID evidence Flashcards
(23 cards)
the legal burden
the requirement to prove an element of your case to a prescribed standard
the evidential burden
The burden to raise some evidence to satisfy the judge that the matter should be argued before the jury. Usually on the party with the legal burden (so usually the prosecution).
general rule from Woolmington v DPP
the prosecution bears the legal burden of proving all the elements of the offence necessary to establish guilt
evidential burden for self-defence rests with the
defence (but legal burden remains with prosecution)
legal burden on prosecution for self-defence
to prove that the use of force was unlawful, the prosecution must disprove self-defence
if the victim pleads not guilty but tells you that they did it, you cannot let them
take the stand to put forward a positive defence
Safeguard for ID evidence at investigation stage
PACE Code of Practice D
Safeguard for ID evidence at trial
Turnbull guidelines
When should a Turnbull direction be given?
when the case against the accused depends ‘wholly or substantially’ on the correctness of the visual identification
When should the possibility of making a Turnbull direction be discussed?
between judge and advocates in the absence of the jury prior to speeches and summing up
3 key elements of a Turnbull warning
The judge should:
- instruct the jury as to the reason for the need for such a warning
- direct the jury to examine the circumstances in which the identification by each witness came to be made
- remind the jury of any specific weaknesses in the ID evidence
In R v Turnbull, the witness policeman, who knew Turnbull, identified him from a
“fleeting glimpse”
If the quality of the identifying evidence is poor, the judge should
withdraw the case from the jury and direct an acquittal unless there is other evidence which goes to support the correctness of the identification
A failure to follow the Turnbull guidelines is likely to result in
a conviction being quashed
In cases of visual identification, the judge must answer two principal questions:
What is the quality of the identification evidence?
Is there other evidence to support the correctness of the identification?
mnemonic for considering the strengths and weakness of the evidence as outlined in Turnbull
ADVOKATE
4 key aspects to making an application to exclude a confession are:
Advance notification
Timing
Voir dire
Submissions
defence statements in mags court and Crown Court
defence statements are optional in Mags court and mandatory in Crown Court
When dealing with case management in a magistrates’ court, standard case preparation time limits require any defence skeleton argument in support at least
10 business days before trial
in mags court, prosecution response to defence skeleton argument should come
within 5 working days
A voir dire takes place in open court in the presence of the
defendant and (when taking place in the Crown Court) in the absence of the jury
A voir dire is only required if
a factual matter relating to the substance of the legal argument requires resolution for the argument to proceed
a video identification procedure can be arranged without the client’s
consent
