Professional legal advice in Criminal Law

• If the police have charged you with an offence they will have given you a time and date to be at Court.
• Now is the time to seek legal advice if you have not already done so. We are happy to have a conversation about your case and the process going forward. 
• Make sure you are at Court on the correct date preferably well before the time you have been given. On your first appearance on the charge you can see a Duty Solicitor (Duty Lawyer) if you have not already made contact with a lawyer and agreed to have them to act for you and appear for you.
• A Duty Solicitor can act for you on your first day in Court only. After your first day you are required to find (instruct) your own lawyer or apply for legal aid and a lawyer will be appointed for you. You do not get to choose your lawyer if you apply for legal aid.

It is important to obtain sound legal advice. The consequences of a conviction can be far reaching, even if the conviction seems quite minor. Sometimes there are defences to charges that you may not realise. Other times it may well be in your best interests to admit to a charge at the earliest opportunity. Holdaway Law can act for people on a range of matters from minor charges to more serious matters as well. These include:

• Bail hearings
• Shoplifting and other Theft charges
• Assault charges
• Driving charges
• Drugs charges
• Benefit fraud
• Wilful damage
• Disorderly behavior
• Burglary
• Fisheries charges
• Discharges Without Convictions
• Appeals to the High Court

On your first appearance you can have your matter remanded (sometimes called "adjourned") for two to three weeks. This can be to seek legal advice, apply for legal aid or obtain disclosure. Disclosure is the information police have and are relying on to prosecute someone. If your charge is minor and you wish to plead guilty to the charge immediately, then a lawyer can deal with the matter in front of a Judge on the first day. This is not recommended as it is always best to have all the information before you make a decision.

In Court you will probably have to stand in the Dock unless you face a "fine only offence". Your lawyer will talk to the Judge on your behalf. Sometimes the Judge will address (talk to) a defendant directly but this does not happen often. Your lawyer will explain to the Judge what you want to do. This might be to:

• Plead not guilty (if you have already instructed a lawyer and have received disclosure and discussed your case fully with your lawyer and you wish to defend the matter); or
• Seek a remand to instruct a lawyer privately, apply for legal aid or receive disclosure; or
• Plead guilty for a minor matter to which there is no defence and you wish to be dealt with on the day. If you choose to plead guilty make sure you tell your lawyer all the information that you think might be relevant to your case, such as background to a dispute or any historical events that might have influenced a bad decision you might have made. 

If you have not appeared in Court before and the charge is relatively minor, you may be eligible for diversion which means you will not have a conviction. It is important to avoid a conviction if possible as most employers will ask if you have any previous convictions when you apply for a job. 

Having convictions can mean that you may not even get an interview for a job. So in that respect diversion is a positive thing. It pays to be aware though that some organisations ask in their initial job application form if you have convictions or if you have received diversion previously. Diversion is at the discretion of the police so it is up to the police whether or not they will give it to you. You can usually only have diversion once. To be offered diversion you have to admit to the offence that you have been charged. 

If you plead guilty or are found guilty of a charge and there is an identifiable victim involved, your case may be remanded for Restorative Justice to be considered. This means that the process will not be complete on your first day in Court.

The Restorative Justice process involves a meeting between you and the victim with others present such as a police representative and the Restorative Justice facilitator - the aim being to try and restore the relationship between you and the victim. Tasks are set which might involve for example a letter of apology, some community work or attending alcohol or drug counselling if that is an issue. Any self-improvement work you do to reduce the chances of ever coming back to Court is looked upon favourably by the Judge.

If the Restorative Justice tasks are completed then this will reduce any further sentence. 

Sometimes there is no further sentence.

Sometimes a conviction in itself can lead to consequences that are out of all proportion to the charge. It might be, for example, that you are very likely to lose your employment if convicted of a minor charge. If this is the case you need to seek legal advice on whether you might be successful in an application to discharged without conviction. 

Normally an application would be made if you have no previous convictions, or perhaps a minor conviction many years ago. You do not have to show that a consequence will definitely happen, however there must be a “real and significant risk”.

We have years of experience in making applications to be discharged without conviction.

Although based in Blenheim we are able to appear in other Courts within New Zealand either by Audio Visual Link (AVL) for minor matters, or in person if required for more substantial matters.