The appellant had been unrepresented throughout her trial. She appealed, complaining that the prosecutor had been allowed to make a closing speech.
Held: The conviction was quashed. Lord Justice Edmund Davies drew attention to the impact which that speech might have had on the jury’s determination of the issues in relation to fact which arose, saying: ‘The practice is now well established that in circumstances such as these, where an accused person is professionally unrepresented and calls no witnesses, other than giving evidence for herself or himself, the Crown is not entitled to make a second speech. That has long been a rule of practice.
In Harrison Salter J said . . ‘we desire to point out very clearly that the rule about counsel in such circumstances not addressing the jury a second time is one which ought to be carefully observed, and it might be that in another case this Court would have to hold that a conviction, in a trial where such an irregularity occurred, must be quashed.’ In that particular case the Court, applying the proviso to section 4(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1907, came to the conclusion that despite the irregularity there had been no miscarriage of justice, and the conviction was accordingly affirmed and the appeal dismissed.’
Judges:
Edmund Davies LL
Citations:
(1968) 52 Cr App R 695
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Stovell, Regina v CACD 12-Jan-2006
The defendant appealed against his conviction. Before he gave evidence, his legal team withdrew for professional embarrassment. He now complained that notwithstanding that he was unrepresented, prosecuting counsel had been permitted to make a . .
Cited – Cojan, Regina v CACD 25-Nov-2014
The defendant appealed against his convictions for offences of rape and robbery. Towards the end of his trial, he had sacked his legal team, and had given no colsing address. He complained that the judge had even so allowed the prosecutor to ake an . .
Cited – Rabani, Regina v CACD 21-Aug-2008
The defendant appealed against his conviction. He had not been represented at trial, and several objections were taken to the conduct of the case, and in particular that prosecuting counsel had made a closing address, and that he had not been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.540505
