Police Station Advice Flashcards
(46 cards)
How should a solicitor advance an active defence in the police station?
- Obtaining as much information from the police as possible
- Advising your client fully / in accordance with your professional obligations
- Advising on issues which arise during police investigation - providing samples, extensions of periods of detention, searches of premises + bail
- Attending and advising during the interview
What should a solicitor do if interviewing officers refuse a reasonable quest?
Ask custody officer to make a notice of the breach
When might a suspect be considered vulnerable?
Someone who, because of a mental health condition / disorder:
- Has difficult understanding or communicating effectively about arrest, detention, police station, interview, rights and entitlements
- Doesn’t understand what they are being told
- Is prone to becoming confused and unclear about their position, providing information without wishing to do so, accepting suggestions of others without consciously knowing / wishing to do so
- Agrees to proposals without any protest or question
When is a suspect specifically not vulnerable?
Under influence of alcohol or drugs
What happens if an officer thinks someone might be vulnerable?
They should be treated as such, until clear evidence to the contrary is provided
Officers must make and record reasonable enquiries
What information can be relevant when judging vulnerability?
o Behaviour
o Mental health / capacity
o What person says about themselves
o Information from police officers, staff and records
o Information from health / social care / other professionals
When can a vulnerable adult be interviewed without an appropriate adult?
Superintendent is satisfied that it won’t significantly harm the persons physical or mental state, and delay would lead to interference with evidence etc.
What should be considered if you are representing a vulnerable client?
- Appoint appropriate adult
- Medical assessment
- Take time to advise client
- Make sure client understands your role, what is going on, how to approach a ‘no comment’ situation
- Watch tone
- Request regular breaks
What three options does a client have in an interview?
- Answer
- No comment
- Written statement and no comment
When do defendants use written statements? Why might they not be as useful as they first appear?
Useful to set out facts which will be relied on at trial, but a lawyer thinks it is better not to answer
Very hard to avoid adverse inferences, and client will still have to answer no comment during the interview
Why should clients not be advised to adopt a mixed interview strategy?
This means answering some questions, but saying no comment to others
Transcript will still be read in court - adverse inferences
What should you consider when advising a client whether to answer questions or not?
Amount of disclosure
Admissibility / strength of evidence
Client’s account
Their instructions
State of your client
Significant statements
Adverse inferences
What would be a very good reason to stay silent in an interview?
If the police have failed to fully inform your lawyer
What should be considered regarding evidence when considering if your client should answer questions or not?
- Have witnesses provided written statements?
- Are witnesses compellable?
- Were any significant statements unlawfully obtained?
- Will any S78 PACE applications have to be made at court
What should be considered regarding the strength of evidence when considering if your client should answer questions or not?
- If evidence is poor - matter unlikely to go to trial
- Sensible to stay silent - no risk of providing incriminating information, little risk of adverse inferences
- Consider if there is more evidence to be collected - if it goes to trial / adverse inferences can be drawn
What kind of information, if the defendant has it, should be put forward as early as possible?
Any defence - particularly if it is an alibi, or it reverses the burden of proof
When should the court not draw adverse inferences from silence?
Ill health / confusion / intoxication / shock
What three adverse inferences can be drawn under CJPOA 1994?
S34 - if a fact is relied on at trial, and it would have been reasonable to mention it now
S36 - if there is failure to account for a mark, object or substance
S37 - if there is failure to account for presence at the scene
What statutory safeguard exists regarding adverse inferences?
S38 - no defendant can be convicted solely based on adverse inferences
What can inferences drawn under S34 range from?
An acceptance that the defence as presented in court is true, and D chose not to reveal it in their interview
An inference that they are lying, and are guilty
What is an essential condition for S34 to be able to apply?
Suspect must be under caution
What context does the S34 defence provide for?
It must have been reasonable to have mentioned the fact at the time, bearing in mind all the circumstances existing at the time
S34 says that adverse inferences can be drawn where D relies on something in court which they did not say in interview, but it must have been reasonable to have mentioned the fact at the time, bearing in mind all the circumstances existing at the time. What does R v Argent say about the interpretation of ‘circumstances existing at the time’?
This should be widely interpreted
Can include;
o What disclosure had been made to the suspect / lawyer / by the police
o What information the prosecution can demonstrate the suspect knew at the time of questioning or charge
o The condition and circumstances of the suspect
o Any legal advice that the suspect received
What is the effect of an adverse inference?
Undermines a defence - effectively says that explanation has been fabricated, defendant knew that their account would not stand up to police questioning, or at the time of interview, the defendant had no reasonable explanation which would refute the prosecution’s case.
