R v Bell (No 2)

In the matter of R v Bell (No 2), the applicant, Bell, sought to revoke his election to be tried by a judge alone in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Bell had initially elected to be tried by a judge alone, but now sought to revoke this election on the grounds that he had been unaware of certain material at the time of making the election. The prosecution opposed the application, arguing that permitting the revocation might create an appearance of forum shopping, and that the material presented by the defence was either inadmissible, inaccurate, or did not establish special reasons for revoking the election.

The court was required to determine whether there were grounds for Bell to revoke his election for a judge-alone trial, and if so, whether it would be just to permit such a revocation. The court examined the material provided by the defence and prosecution, including affidavits and supplementary statements, to assess whether Bell had been fully informed at the time of making his election and whether he would have made a different choice had he been aware of all the material.

In reaching its decision, the court considered the potential for an appearance of forum shopping, the admissibility and accuracy of the material provided, and the impact of the new material on Bell's decision-making process. The court found that Bell had not been fully informed at the time of his election and that had he been aware of all the material, he would likely have made a different choice. The court concluded that it would be unjust not to allow the application and granted Bell leave to formally revoke his election for a trial by judge alone within seven days.

The final orders of the court were that the applicant, Bell, was authorised to revoke his election for trial by judge alone and was granted a period of seven days to file a notice formally revoking his election.