ADVOCACY & COMMUNICATION
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS SCENARIO
Johan Strauss (“Joe” to his mates) was out at Mooseheads on the evening of
Saturday 5 January 2019.
At about 1:00am Joe was found by Police to be sitting in his car in Mooseheads
car park. The keys were in the ignition but the vehicle was stationary. Police
performed a breathalyser test on him. The result showed a reading of 0.12
(noting the legal limit of 0.05).
Officer Moore asked Joe to exit the vehicle. “I’m sorry but you are reading
over. You will have to come to the station for further testing.” Joe agreed
and got into the police vehicle at Officer Moore’s direction. On his short journey,
Joe was seated next to Constable Pierce. Joe sat with his head in his hands for
the majority of the journey. He briefly raised his head shortly prior to arriving at
the station and, turning to Constable Pierce stated “that was a bit stupid of
me wasn’t it.”
Further blood tests were taken in police custody that confirmed Joe to be over
the limit.
While Joe was waiting at the police station in a separate interview room for the
blood test to be returned, the following exchange occurs:
| Joe: Officer: Joe: Officer: Joe: |
Far out man, do I have to be here? Look, you can help yourself by being straight up with me. Fine. Nothing I can do about it I suppose. If you are cooperative, you have nothing to worry about. Fine, I shouldn’t have done it. Now do I lose my licence now? |
Joe was charged with an offence pursuant to section 19 of the Road Transport
(Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1977.
As a summary offence, the matter proceeds in the Magistrates Court for
hearing. During the course of the preliminary submissions to her Honour,
Defence challenge the admissibility of evidence relied upon by the Prosecution.
The Prosecution seek to lead evidence with respect to Joe’s statement to
Constable Pierce as an admission pursuant to section 82 of the Evidence Act
(ACT).
Prepare written submissions with respect to the admissibility of this evidence
as either Prosecution or Defence. Make sure that you are clear in your case
theory and that you make clear that your submissions are prepared on behalf
of the Prosecution or Defence.
Your submissions are to address the question of the admission only, and should
consider other material only in so far as it is relevant to the arguments with
respect to admissions. You are encouraged to closely consider the relevant
Evidence Act provisions (including discretions and Part 3.11), commentary and
case law on the respective provisions. (Hint: don’t forget to consider ss 82, 85,
90, 135, 137, 138, 139).
This is not an examination of your knowledge of Criminal Law and Procedure
or of the Evidence Act as a whole. Rather, it is putting into practice what we
developed together during the Advocacy Course – the ability to consider and
distil relevant legislative provisions, the ability to analyse a problem and
develop a case theory, the ability to make cogent arguments in accordance with
the case theory.
Don’t forget to consider the instructions with respect to this task
contained in your Written Submissions Assessment Description
document on Canvas.
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