(Saint Christopher and Nevis) The applicant appealed against his sentence of death following his conviction for murder. He had been granted a stay of execution pending the appeal to the board and had since been given leave to appeal against sentence. The defendant said that the jury heard the beginning of an intervention suggesting threats by him against a witness.
Held: The appeal should be dismissed. The judge had handled it correctly. The danger was minimal, and a direction could have given greater emphasis.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell
[2008] UKPC 7
Bailii
Commonwealth
Citing:
Cited – Mitchell v The Queen PC 24-Jan-1998
(Bahamas) The judge’s decision on a voire dire to determine the admissibility of a confession should not be revealed to the jury since it might cause unfair prejudice to the defendant by conveying the impression that the judge had reached a . .
Cited – Regina v Azam, Altaf and Hussain CACD 22-Feb-2006
The court considered whether an event might prejudice a fair trial, even if counsel do not raise the issue. The court dismissed the defendant’s appeals. In doing so it stated that too many counsel had been instructed. Leading and junior counsel had . .
Cited – Regina v Lawson, Adderson, Johnson, Jones, and Roberts CACD 24-Jan-2005
The defendants appealed convictions for conspiracy to import cannabis resin. The prosecution had been refused consent to present certain evidence, but the judge went on later to refer to material from the excluded evidence in his summing up.
Cited – Regina v Docherty CACD 1999
The defendant was accused of a sexual assault. A witness referred to his having been in prison. The trial judge refused to discharge the jury, stating that the remark could well have been taken to mean that that the defendant was a dishonest person . .
Cited – Millar v Dickson PC 24-Jul-2001
The Board was asked whether the appellants had waived their right to an independent and impartial tribunal under article 6 of the Convention by appearing before the temporary sheriffs without objecting to their hearing their cases on the ground that . .
Cited – Porter and Weeks v Magill HL 13-Dec-2001
Councillors Liable for Unlawful Purposes Use
The defendant local councillors were accused of having sold rather than let council houses in order to encourage an electorate which would be more likely to be supportive of their political party. They had been advised that the policy would be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.320879