The Appeal Procedure
CRIMINAL APPEAL OFFICE - INFORMATION ABOUT APPEALS
GENERAL APPEAL PROCEDURE
For most cases, the appeal process consists of two parts:
i) An application for leave (permission) to appeal and
ii) The appeal itself.
In the first stage, the CAO makes sure it has all the necessary case papers so that a High Court judge (known as a “Single Judge”) can decide whether to grant or refuse leave (permission) to appeal. The judge will consider the grounds of appeal and if s/he thinks there may be merit in the case, s/he will usually grant leave to appeal. At this point the second stage of the appeal process begins. The CAO will now prepare the case for the hearing of the appeal by the Full Court of Appeal with a barrister representing the appellant to speak on his / her behalf.
In cases where the Single Judge refuses leave to appeal, the applicant will be informed of this and s/he may decide to renew the application. If s/he does renew it, the case will be prepared for a hearing before the Full Court of Appeal but legal aid will not be granted for the applicant to be represented by a barrister. The Full Court (“3 Judges”) may decide to refuse the application, in which case the matter is finished. If the Full Court decides to grant the application, the judges will usually give their reasons for their decision but take no further action that day. The case will be adjourned and then prepared for the appeal to be heard at a later date by the Full Court .
However, on some occasions, when the Full Court of Appeal is hearing a renewed application for leave to appeal against sentence , the Court may decide to grant leave to appeal (the first stage of the process) then go on immediately to consider the appeal itself (the second stage of the process).
PROCEDURE AT HEARINGS
If an appeal is against conviction , the Prosecuting Authority (usually the Crown Prosecution Service – “CPS”) will attend the Full Court hearing and barristers will represent the prosecution and defence.
If an appeal is against sentence , the defence will be represented by a barrister but it is not usual for the Prosecution to be represented at the Full Court hearing. Since 10 November 2003, a new procedure, which was agreed with the CPS, has been in place in relation to sentence appeals. This provides for the Prosecution to be notified by the CAO that leave to appeal has been granted. The Prosecution can then consider all the background circumstances and decide whether they do in fact wish to have a barrister attend the hearing on their behalf. They can also consider whether there are any circumstances which mean that they should take steps to inform the victim / their family that a hearing will be taking place. The new procedure also provides for the Prosecution to be notified so that they can consider attending the hearing where an application for leave to appeal is being renewed and , in exceptional circumstances, a barrister is going to be present to represent the applicant. The general rule is that if the applicant is not going to be represented by a barrister, the Prosecution can't have a barrister appearing either.
When hearing an appeal, the Court will hear “submissions” about the law from the defence barrister (and from the prosecution if they are also attending). The court will not re-hear the case and it is very rare for there to be any witnesses giving evidence at the Court of Appeal. If any evidence is given, it is usually by expert witnesses eg doctors, psychiatrists, forensic experts. It would be extremely exceptional for someone who has been the victim of an offence (or their family) to be asked to speak or give evidence to the court.
Appeals against conviction
If an appellant is appealing against their conviction, they will be asking the court to quash the conviction because it is “unsafe”. There are various reasons why an appellant might be saying the conviction is unsafe and the following are a few examples:
- New evidence has come to light since the trial which, if it had been available at the time of trial, would probably have meant the appellant was not convicted eg scientific advances in use of DNA evidence
- The judge was unfair in the way s/he summarised (“summed up”) the case for the jury.
- The judge made a decision of some sort during the case which was not fair or was not correct in law eg about whether a particular piece of evidence could or could not be mentioned to the jury.
- Something peculiar happened at the trial which might mean the conviction isn't safe eg the proper procedures weren't followed.
Appeals against sentence
Again, there may a variety of reasons why the appellant feels the sentence s/he was given was unfair. The following are some examples:
- Looking at guidelines given by the Sentencing Guidelines Council (or guidance given by the Court of Appeal) for this type of offence, the judge was too severe when sentencing in view of the specific facts of this particular offence
- The judge was unfair and gave a lesser sentence to one of the co-defendants
- The judge didn't take enough account of the appellant's particular circumstances eg the fact that s/he had no previous convictions and the offence was committed when s/he was quite young.
Appeals generally
Hearings are held in public and if leave to appeal has been granted, the appellant has the right to be present when the appeal is heard i.e. if in custody, s/he has the right to be brought from prison in order to attend. Hearings usually take place in courts 4 to 9 within the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL. The nearest tube station is Temple (circle and district line) but Chancery Lane (central line) and Holborn (central and Piccadilly lines) are also nearby. The CAO Customer Service team may be able to assist with further information – see contact details mentioned previously.