CRIMINAL MATTERS

JURY TRIALS AND CIRCUITS

It is proposed that:

  1. The Mount Gambier Circuit in July will proceed as a normal circuit with jury trials. Country circuits thereafter will also proceed as normal circuits with jury trials.
  2. There will be no jury trials in the District Court in Adelaide in July 2020.
  3. Jury trials will recommence in Adelaide from 1 August 2020 on a staged basis.

The Court is liaising with and seeking advice from SA Health in relation to the reintroduction of jury trials.

The proposed recommencement of jury trials will always be subject to Government recommendations and SA Health advice from time to time.

In re-introducing jury trials, the Court is mindful of the need to ensure arrangements are in place to minimise any health risk to all of the participants in the trial process and to the community.

The need to maintain social distancing and other government recommendations will impact on the configuration of jury courtrooms and on the number of jury trials that may be run at any one time.

There is a need to address the particular requirements of induction and empanelment, together with the location of jurors in Court during the trial, and the provision of appropriate rooms for jury deliberations.

Initially, this may require two courtrooms to be set aside for each jury trial, with the second courtroom being used as the jury deliberation room.

These arrangements will necessarily mean that not all jury trials listed will be able to commence.

The Court will attempt to identify matters that may not be able to be heard on their currently listed trial dates as soon as practicable and will communicate with the parties.

TRIAL BY JUDGE ALONE

Matters that have already been listed for trial by judge alone or preliminary hearing from 1 July 2020 onwards will retain their current trial dates, however, the Court will continue to see if some of those trials can be brought forward. Counsel with matters in this category will, or may be, contacted by the Court. If counsel are not contacted by the Court, or an earlier trial date cannot be accommodated, then those matters are to proceed on their current listed trial date.

New Applications to elect for Trial By Judge Alone

Any election for a trial by judge alone, where the matter is already listed for trial by jury, should be made by filing and serving the usual application. Subject to the position of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and consideration by a Judicial Officer, these applications may be dealt with administratively.

New matters committed for trial to the District Court will be dealt with in the usual way, and any application for a trial by judge alone will be considered at arraignment.

SECOND DIRECTIONS HEARING CALLOVER

Counsel with matters listed for second directions hearing callovers in May, June and July 2020 will be contacted by the Criminal Registry, with a view to dealing with individual matters administratively, including where appropriate, enabling the consideration of any new elections for trial by judge alone, vacating and setting further trial dates and excusing accused from attendance provided certain criteria are met. If there is no agreement between parties, in relation to the future listing of the matter following contact by the Criminal Registry, then the matter will be listed in Court for a directions hearing and parties will be required to attend. If the accused is not in custody, the accused may be excused from attending the callover if counsel, or their instructor, undertake that they have had contact with their client, either by telephone or in person, in the preceding seven days.

CALLING MATTERS ON

Any party may, consistent with the current rules and practice, make an application for a matter to be called on before the Court.

GENERAL

Attendance by AVL for prisoners in custody will be arranged where possible.

Suitable matters may be administratively dealt with.

Where possible and necessary, practitioners’ attendance by telephone or by Webex may be arranged with individual Chambers or the Criminal Registry.

Any queries in relation to the listing of matters should be directed at first instance to the Criminal Registry.

We again encourage all members of the public who are not required to be in court to not attend because of difficulties caused by close proximity.

If you have a matter in court and need further information, please contact CourtSA Registry Services on 8204 2444 or enquiry@courts.sa.gov.au.

These measures are intended to deal with the current circumstances and are subject to review.

 

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