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R v Leonard

R v Leonard

Case [2007] NZCA 452 19 December 2007

Admissibility of Evidence

Criminal Law

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UNTIL THE FINAL DISPOSITION OF THE TRIAL, [49] - [84] OF THIS JUDGMENT ARE NOT TO BE PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET OR ANY PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATABASE. PUBLICATION IN LAW REPORT OR LAW DIGEST IS PERMITTED.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

CA417/07 [2007] NZCA 452

THE QUEEN

v

VINCENT PATRICK JAMES LEONARD

Hearing:  17 October 2007
Court:  Glazebrook, Hammond and Ellen France JJ Counsel:      W McKean for Appellant
B J Horsley and T Smith for Crown Judgment:     18 October 2007                   at 3.30pm Reasons for Judgment: 19 December 2007 at 4pm
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

A Leave to appeal is granted. B The appeal is dismissed.
CUntil the final disposition of the trial, [49] – [84] of this judgment are not to be published on the internet or any publicly available database.
Publication in Law Report or Law Digest is permitted.

R V LEONARD CA CA417/07 18 October 2007

REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by Glazebrook J)

Table of Contents

Para No

SCOPE OF JUDGMENT  [1] CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL  [3] Introduction   [3] Submissions        [9] Criteria for granting leave  [11] Commentary on criteria  [19] Legal aid ramifications  [26] Other concerns [30]
New procedure  [32] Notice of application for leave to appeal  [32] Reply notice     [36] Hearing of applications for leave  [39] Interim procedure  [42] Judgments on leave applications  [46]
SUBSTANTIVE APPLICATION  [49] Contentions of the parties  [49] Background facts  [52] Judge’s ruling  [58] Application for leave  [70] Search warrant applications  [73] Submissions [73] Discussion  [77] Failure to take Mr Leonard to court  [83]

RESULT [85]

SCOPE OF JUDGMENT

[1] Mr Leonard sought leave to appeal, under s 379A of the Crimes Act 1961, against a pretrial decision of 7 August 2007 by Judge Harvey, which ruled admissible evidence obtained pursuant to search warrants executed at Mr Leonard’s home and workplace. On 18 October 2007, we granted his application for leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal. These are the reasons for that judgment.

[2] In addition to addressing Mr Leonard’s application, this judgment sets out the procedure this Court will use in future in assessing leave applications made under s 379A. This will apply to applications filed on or after Monday 3 March 2008.

CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL

Introduction

[3] Section 379A of the Crimes Act provides that, at any time before trial (or retrial), an accused person and (in most cases) the Crown, may appeal either to this Court or the Supreme Court (but not both) in relation to certain pretrial matters with the leave of the Court appealed to. The most common applications for leave to appeal concern pretrial rulings on the admissibility of evidence under s 344A. However, s 379A also covers, among other things, such matters as joinder and severance (under s 340), extensions of time for filing indictments (s 345B), orders excusing the prosecution from disclosing certain information (s 345C), granting or refusing leave to file an…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Leonard

Details

AGLC: R v Leonard [2007] NZCA 452
Case: [2007] NZCA 452
Decision Date: 19 December 2007

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Vincent Patrick James Leonard sought leave to appeal against a pretrial decision by Judge Harvey, which ruled admissible evidence obtained pursuant to search warrants executed at Mr Leonard’s home and workplace. The Court granted leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal. The Court considered the policy and practical issues involved in granting leave to appeal pretrial, and decided that leave should be granted only if the leave criteria are met. The Court set out the criteria for granting leave to appeal and outlined a new procedure for dealing with leave applications in future cases. The new procedure will apply to applications filed on or after 3 March 2008. In this case, the Court found that the Judge used the appropriate approach in assessing the admissibility of the evidence and that the result was one open to him. The Court also found that there was no causative link between the breach and the evidence found at Mr Leonard’s home or workplace, and therefore the evidence was admissible.

Orders