An appellant should not be allowed to make tactical decisions not to object to something at his trial, but to save it for an appeal: ‘an appellant should not be able to blow hot and cold in this way.’ and ‘The appellant had himself been made aware of the contents of the note. He, having been made aware of the contents of the note through his counsel, did not dissent from the course proposed by the judge, namely to take a verdict. As was pointed out in argument, for him now to seek to challenge that verdict means that he waited to see whether the verdict was favourable or not, and only sought to challenge the right of the jury to bring in a verdict when he has ascertained, in relation to one count, that the verdict is unfavourable to him. It cannot be satisfactory that in a situation of this sort an appellant should blow hot and cold, albeit through counsel.’
Judges:
Lord Woolf CJ
Citations:
[1991] Crim LR 844
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Smith, Regina v Mercieca HL 16-Feb-2005
A member of the jury wrote to the judge saying that other members were failing to discharge their duties properly. Smith took a tactical decision not to seek a retrial. The judge saw counsel in chambers, after which the jury were reminded of their . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.222819
