The court considered when a judge should allow a defendant to withdraw a plea of guilty: ‘only rarely would it be appropriate for the trial judge to exercise his undoubted discretion in favour of an accused person wishing to change an unequivocal plea of guilty to one of not guilty. Particularly this is so in cases where as here the accused has throughout been advised by experienced counsel, and where, after full consultation with his counsel, he has already changed his plea to one of guilty at an earlier stage in the proceedings.’ (Lord Lane CJ) Once such discretion is exercised, an appeal court should approach the question with even more care.
It is the verdict of a jury which constitutes the conviction for the purposes of the Act.
Judges:
Lord Lane CJ
Citations:
[1985] 1 WLR 914, (1985) 81 Cr App R 190
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Mason CACD 18-Nov-2004
The defendant had entered a plea of guilty to a charge of manslaughter, but now sought to vacate that plea. There had been a fight after a wedding reception. The defendant was said to have joined in a multi-handed attack on the victim. The defendant . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Toney Admn 14-Jul-2005
The defendant appealed a refusal to allow him to withdraw a plea of guilty. He was accused of assaulting his wife. He had had legal advice before interview and trial.
Held: Though the defendant had not waived privilege a note had been placed . .
Cited – Turk (Deceased) v Regina CACD 6-Apr-2017
Defendant’s death stops trial immediately
At his trial for serious sexual offences, the jury passed a note to the judge saying that they had reached unanimous verdicts on several counts. The judge did not pass the note to counsel, but instead asked the jury to retire overnight to try again . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.219686