An overview of the usual stages of a first hearing in the Magistrates' court is set out below.

1.

The Magistrates' court may also make directions in contested cases regarding, for example, hearsay and bad character evidence and will generally identify the issues in the case and seek to narrow them down. For others, it might be to avoid a community correction order (a punishment in the community where the accused is ordered to complete unpaid community work and counselling for a period of time set by the Magistrate) even if that means receiving a short stint in gaol instead.It just may be that the outcome is not in the realm of possibilities, in which case it is not worth fretting about or it may be a realistic probability which your lawyer should confirm with you from the beginning. The aim is to place your offending into context and explain how it came about.Obviously the more positive things that can be put on your behalf the better result you will get.It is important to get all the necessary documents and materials as discussed in the preparing for the plea page.Well before this date you and your lawyer will have worked out how you are putting your case to the Magistrate.

Pennsylvania E-Pay allows the public to securely pay fines, costs, and restitution to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Common Pleas and Magisterial District courts PAePay Bail option provides an alternative means of paying bail on Magisterial District Court and Common Pleas Court cases Where magistrates consider offences to be suitable for trial on indictment, the defendant will be sent to the Crown Court forthwith and a date for the first hearing at the Crown Court will be provided. If this arises, and you have not been informed in advance by the defence that the guilty plea is being put forward on the basis of a different factual situation, you may need to request an adjournment.
Please read the below documents as this relates to Court functions may change outside what has been defined in the Judicial Order. This is where your lawyer talks to the Magistrate on your behalf. A sentencing hearing is where the matter is adjourned for the Magistrate to decide what penalty they will impose.If sentencing is put off for quite a long time (ie a number of months) it is referred to as a deferral of sentencing. When the accused pleads guilty or is found guilty, the prosecution must file with the Court and serve on the accused the following material at least 5 days before the Plea Hearing: The draft indictment; The accused’s criminal record (if any);

The court legal adviser reads out the offence you have been charged with and you are asked if you want to plead guilty or not guilty. The stages are in the order that is normally followed, although individual courts may vary in their practice.

Where the magistrates' court holds a Newton hearing in respect of an either way offence and makes a decision upon it before committing the case to the Crown Court for sentence, the Crown Court has the power to hold a further Newton hearing if it is in the interests of fairness and justice to do so 26. Where the defence raises an extraneous issue in mitigation which you are not in a position to refute because it is wholly within the knowledge of the defendant (for example, the defendant's state of mind when the offence was committed), this issue will not usually be in conflict with the prosecution evidence, and a Newton hearing is therefore not appropriate 24.

Magistrate Court: The deadline to answer pending lawsuits and dispossessories will be reinstated effective July 14, 2020. What happens during a hearing at the magistrates’ court? If you have an up-coming matter booked in for a plea hearing and would like to speak with a lawyer, call us on 9670 5111 to arrange a zoom conference.Enter your name and email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.COVID-19 and plea hearings in the Magistrates’ Court If a guilty plea is ambiguous or equivocal, it is the duty of the prosecutor to point this out to the court. If you plead guilty to an either way offence then you might be sentenced there and then but if the magistrates don’t think their sentencing powers are sufficient you could be sent to the Crown court for sentencing. For as long as a State-Wide Judicial Emergency is in effect the Courts will address When indicated by the justices' legal adviser to do so, you should stand, inform the court that you appear on behalf of HSE, the prosecutor, and introduce the defence representative.