At the Criminal Law Centre, we have conducted many severity and all-grounds appeals from the Local Court to the District Court.
If you have been sentenced with your matter, whether it be by pleading guilty or the matter determined by a fully contested hearing and you are unhappy with the result, you can appeal the decision of the Local Court to the District Court.
There is a time limit of 28 days to lodge the appeal. You can still appeal after the 28 days but you must have leave of the court.
There are two types of appeals:
All Grounds Appeal
These appeals are conducted when a defendant disagrees with the decision by a magistrate when they have been found guilty of an offence and a conviction has been recorded. These appeals are generally conducted to challenge issues of law. An example of this may be identification.
In an All Grounds Appeal, the Presiding Judge reviews the transcript of the Local Court hearing. The transcript is a typed recording of the Local Court proceedings.
Severity Appeal
If you think the sentencing result was too harsh, you can appeal against the sentence. This may be simply appealing against a conviction (or a section 9 bond) and asking the Presiding Judge to not convict you (section 10), or decreasing a drivers licence disqualification.
Can the Presiding Judge increase my sentence?
If the Presiding Judge considers that the sentence imposed on you in the Local Court was too lenient, the Judge can increase the sentence. However, prior to increasing the sentence, the Judge should give you a “Parker Direction”. This is essentially a warning that the Judge may increase the sentence. At this stage, you can seek leave to withdraw the appeal.
