sentencing at crown court

[bubbly2000]

My partners case was dealt with at crown court last month. The judge said he was to return for sentencing at a different court the week commencing the 22nd March. He calls the solicitors office every day as requested to see if hes in court the next day. He was told this could carry on for ages. He recieved a letter saying he will be given 18 hours notice. Very confused, can anyone explain why this is like it is, I though you go back to court on a given date, were sentenced and that was that. The solicitors are not very helpful with providing information

[stokeyshaun86]

his solicitor should ring him when hes got a court date.he shouldnt have to keep getting in touch with them cus they get paid for it.im up for sentence 2mora 26th march and hoping for community service.

[Buenchico]

Courts schedule complex trials to take several days or even several weeks, but those trials often end early (due to a defendant changing his plea to guilty, for example) or get postponed (perhaps because a key witness is ill). That would leave a courtroom free, with the judge and court officials having no work to do.

In order to prevent this waste of resources, court hearings which take only a small amount of time (such as sentencing) are often placed onto 'warned lists', so that they can be slotted into the gaps left by other hearings which are postponed or end early.

The '18 hours' you refer to is the minimum notice which a defendant should be given as to when his hearing will take place. In practice rather longer notice is often provided. For example a trial might be scheduled to last from Monday to Friday but the defendant changes his plea to guilty on the Monday morning. The court Listings Officer will then start filling up the gaps in the schedule. A defendant on the warned list (or his solicitor) might be notified on the Monday afternoon, or on the Tuesday morning, that the hearing will take place on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (depending upon how the Listings Officer arranges the court's timetable).

Chris

[sara3]

just to add, the crown court I deal with from work doesn't have the court listings until after 1.30pm the day before.

[bubbly2000]

Thankyou Buenchico and Sara, I understand now. The judge said week commencing 22nd march for sentencing, I was just presuming it was to be this week.

[zbearspirit]

You will probably find that the Judge that presided over his case at a previous hearing, will be the sam Judge at sentencing. The Judges travel around and I suspect that the listings clerk will try and arrange for your partners case to 'tie up' with the availability of the Judge and the Barristers representing your partner and the Crown Prosecution Service.

[bubbly2000]

so are we to assume that this could drag on indefinately...or is there usually some sort of time limit for sentencings to be dealt with

[confusingstuff]

late reply here sorry, but sorry to ask how long did he get sentenced for in the end because my son is on trial for similar offence? sorry