Today, National Criminal Lawyer® obtained an outstanding result for a young man who came to us asking for our expert assistance in relation to appealing the decision of a Local Court Magistrate in respect to a full-time custodial sentence that had been imposed.
His custodial sentence was reduced by 50% from 2 years and 6 months to 15 months.
Background
It all started when our office received a phone call from a distressed and concerned father. His son, a young man, only 18 years old had received a harsh result in relation to serious traffic offences. This young man was sentenced to full-time custody for a period of 2 years and 6 months with a non-parole period of 15 months.
The team at National Criminal Lawyers® got to work straight away.
The matter was indeed extremely complex. There were multiple offences and each of those offences had a number of charges. Specifically, in total there were 8 separate offences and a total of 19 charges. These charges included driving whilst disqualified, driving recklessly, driving whilst license cancelled, police pursuit, driving an unregistered and uninsured motor vehicle. Furthermore, there were related criminal offences including, resisting an officer in execution of their duty, common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm.
Preparation
A Notice of Appeal was filed and the matter was listed for an Appeal Hearing before Campbelltown District Court. Our office commenced preparing the matter for Hearing immediately. We received the previous documents utilised in the previous Local Court proceedings and reviewed them. It became abundantly apparent to the expert team at National Criminal Lawyers® that there had been errors in relation to sentencing. For example, for 2 of the offences, the young man had received a full-time custodial sentence for ‘fine only’ offences. When the young man had been sentenced there had been a significant lack of material provided to the Court on behalf of the young man which meant that there was fundamental issues with respect to the sentence that had been imposed.
The team at National Criminal Lawyers® provided gold standard guidance to the young man, his family and friends to assist them in collating the required information to demonstrate to the Court that this young man was more than the person that was depicted in the black ink on the Facts Sheet provided to the Court by the Police. He was not the menace to society that was portrayed to be. We are firm believers that just like a coin, there is always another side to be turned over and a new face to be revealed.
This young man was a loving son, supportive sibling, helpful nephew to his intellectually disabled Aunty and Uncle, hard-working and dedicated employee and a polite and respectful member of society. This was all demonstrated by family members and close family friends providing extraordinary character references to be tendered to the District Court Judge on the day of the Appeal Hearing.
National Criminal Lawyers® worked closely with the young mans father to ensure that there was a substantial amount of evidence in the form of character references. These documents were crucial in establishing the true and genuine character of this young man.
Day of the Hearing
Oral submissions were made to the District Court Judge on behalf of the young man. All the subjective material and character references was handed up the Judge and the matter was stood in the list. Whilst the family were anxious during this period waiting to find out what the Judge would decide, they were also extremely grateful for the amount of preparation that had gone into today.
The young man had already served 3 months in prison and the family were eager to learn what the outcome of the Appeal would be. The Judge decided that whilst he was of the view that full-time custodial sentence was indeed required, he did not agree with the initial sentence that had been imposed by the Local Court Magistrate in the first instance.
The young man’s sentence was reduced dramatically.
The Appeal was upheld. The Judge imposed a 15 month sentence upon the young man with a non-parole period of 5 months. This young man’s time in prison was reduced by 10 months.
This result was outstanding. The young man and his family were ecstatic with the outcome of the day.
Role of National Criminal Lawyers®
The team at National Criminal Lawyers® are dedicated to achieving results like this everyday. At National Criminal Lawyers® the team apply all their knowledge, expertise and resources only to criminal and traffic offences. This is why National Criminal Lawyers® are the best criminal and traffic lawyers and what sets us apart from other law firms.
National Criminal Lawyers® work tirelessly and methodically on matters like this young man’s each and everyday, achieving almost unbelievable results regularly.
We can assist you with any type of traffic or criminal offence.
For more information on a few of the more common traffic offences that National Criminal Lawyers® please click here.
Contact us
If you have been charged with this offence or similar, or think you are going to be charged, then you need expert advice early on. Call Michael and his team of expert lawyers at National Criminal Lawyers® on 02 9893 1889 | 0415 179 794