Abuse of Process - An Introductory Guide for Criminal Lawyers

Introduction

It is a very serious step for any court to prevent a prosecution from proceeding and, not unnaturally, the bar is set very high.

This introductory level webinar will guide criminal lawyers through how to best put forward arguments for abuse of process.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Unconscionable delay whereby a fair trial is no longer possible
• Abuse arising out of the fact that evidence which should have been gathered has not been gathered or evidence which has been gathered has been lost or destroyed
• Abuse on the basis that the prosecution have sought to rely upon a technicality or, in some way, have sought to manipulate the criminal justice process
• Abuse because someone in authority such as a prosecutor or a police officer has reneged on a promise in circumstances where the person has acted to their detriment
• Flagging up the abuse argument early on the PET form or the PTPH form
• Burdens and standards of proof in abuse
• What do the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (as amended) have to say about the procedural matters relating to an abuse of process argument?
• Where do sections 76 and 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) fit into this area?
• An examination of those things which are clearly not an abuse because statute or case-law permits them
• The ‘Pleas in bar’ of ‘autrefois convict’ and ‘autrefois acquit’
• Important case-law in abuse of process
• Entrapment
• You will not win your abuse of process argument if the court takes the view that the matter is something that can be dealt with during the trial process
• It will not necessarily be an abuse simply for the prosecution to change its mind

This webinar was recorded on 8th December 2021