Last year, one of our readers sent me an article about one of two pending appeals in the Supreme Court of the United States about the use of drug-dogs and the admissibility of searches and seizures based on drug-dog indications.The two appeals are Florida v Jardines and Florida v Harris. An overview of the cases …
Continue reading Nose for crime or just bad scents? Drug dogs and the search-or-sniff dichotomy
In Dupas v The Queen [2012] VSCA 328 the Victorian Court of Appeal, sitting as a bank of five judges, declined to follow the precedent of R v Shamouil (2006) 66 NSWLR 228, a decision of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. In Shamouil, a mid-trial Crown appeal on the exclusion of key prosecution evidence, …
These changes come in on Monday 21st January.The amended note (36 pages) can be found here. Even more helpfully, a Notice to Practitioners (kind of an EM for practice notes) has been made available here. Most changes are minor procedural tweaks. Perhaps the most significant change is the Criminal Registry's express prohibition on filings by …
Continue reading Changes to the County Court Criminal Procedure Practice Note
Yep, it's that time again. While the date that your kids go back to school will vary, the dates when speed signage applies on 'School Days' are the same across Victoria.The relevant gazette for 2013 is Government Gazette S 397 published on 26 November 2012. It contains a table of the declared school days for …
The Magistrates' Court Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2012 took effect last Tuesday, 1st January 2013.The amendments specify that it's acceptable for an accused person who is not on bail to receive an adjournment at first mention without the necessity for an appearance at court, provided they:a) apply for the adjournment as soon as …