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The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Decisions >> Michel v. The Queen (The Court of Appeal of Jersey) [2009] UKPC 41 (04 November 2009) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/2009/41.html Cite as: [2010] WLR 879, [2010] Lloyd's Rep FC 81, [2010] 1 Cr App Rep 24, [2010] 1 WLR 879, [2010] 1 Cr App R 24, [2009] UKPC 41 |
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Privy Council Appeal No 0075 of 2008
JUDGMENT
From the Court of Appeal of Jersey |
before
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JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY |
ON |
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Heard on 1 July 2009
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LORD BROWN
"Assisting another to retain the benefit of criminal conduct
32(1). . . if a person enters into or is otherwise concerned in an arrangement whereby
(a) the retention or control by or on behalf of another (in this Article referred to as 'A') of A's proceeds of criminal conduct is facilitated (whether by concealment, removal from the jurisdiction, transfer to nominees or otherwise); or(b) A's proceeds of criminal conduct(i) are used to secure that funds are placed at A's disposal, or(ii) are used for A's benefit to acquire property by way of investment,knowing or suspecting that A is a person who is or has been engaged in criminal conduct or has benefited from criminal conduct, he or she is guilty of an offence."
"There is no question, is there, of his having snooked just a teeny-weeny bit of his money, £49,000, out without paying tax on it, or anything like that?"
And a little later: "We just want a picture of where, in his case, this minute quantity of cash went."
"The Court has found it very surprising that the Commissioner should have intervened to the extent which he did. The Court has no hesitation in agreeing with both counsel that the nature and extent of the Commissioner's interventions were improper. He asked far too many questions and, although many were perfectly proper, a significant proportion were in the nature of cross-examination designed to test the evidence, particularly that of or favourable to the applicant. It is perfectly proper—indeed it is his duty—for a judge to intervene for the purposes described by Rose LJ in Tuegel [R v Tuegel 2002 Cr App R 361 where Rose LJ referred to the judge's 'duty to ask questions which clarify ambiguities in answers previously given or which identify the nature of the defence, if this is unclear']. But it is not proper for a judge to descend into the arena to the extent that the Commissioner did in this case."
"Of course it has been recognised always that it is wrong for a judge to descend into the arena and give the impression of acting as advocate. . . . Whether his interventions in any case give ground for quashing a conviction is not only a matter of degree, but depends to what the interventions are directed and what their effect may be. Interventions to clear up ambiguities, interventions to enable the judge to make certain that he is making an accurate note, are of course perfectly justified. But the interventions which give rise to a quashing of a conviction are really three-fold; those which invite the jury to disbelieve the evidence for the defence which is put to the jury in such strong terms that it cannot be cured by the common formula that the facts are for the jury . . . . The second ground giving rise to a quashing of a conviction is where the interventions have made it really impossible for counsel for the defence to do his or her duty in properly presenting the defence, and thirdly, cases where the interventions have had the effect of preventing the prisoner himself from doing himself justice and telling the story in his own way."
". . . the mere fact that a judge intervenes excessively or inappropriately does not necessarily lead to a conviction being quashed. The decision for the Court is whether the nature and extent of the interventions have resulted in the applicant's trial becoming unfair."
"Jurats are . . . elected by a special electoral college whose members include the bailiffs, the Jurats, advocates and solicitors of the Royal Court and members of Jersey's legislature, the States Assembly. Jurats do not necessarily have a legal qualification, but are usually individuals with a known history of sound judgment and integrity, which has been consistently demonstrated throughout a lengthy professional, business or civic life."
"Commissioner: You must be appalled at how gullible a person you have discovered yourself to be.
A: Erm, yes.
Commissioner: And completely unsuited to taking the word of trust of anyone, because you can always be conned.
A: I am not quite sure who I will ever trust again in the future, Sir.
Defence Counsel: May I briefly and very respectfully intervene here?
Commissioner: Yes.
Defence Counsel: There have been several, with respect, questions which might lead the defendant witness to feel that the court is asking questions which one would expect to come from the prosecution in cross-examination, and I just, with the greatest respect, draw attention to that."
The Court of Appeal noted defence counsel's regret that he had not objected more often.
"But the right of a criminal defendant to a fair trial is absolute. There will come a point when the departure from good practice is so gross, or so persistent, or so prejudicial, or so irremediable that an appellate court will have no choice but to condemn a trial as unfair and quash a conviction as unsafe, however strong the grounds for believing the defendant to be guilty. The right to a fair trial is one to be enjoyed by the guilty as well as the innocent, for a defendant is presumed to be innocent until proved to be otherwise in a fairly conducted trial."
"Time and time again the judge intervened, got an answer and then asked questions on that answer. The impression he must have given was that he was cross-examining on the evidence-in-chief as it was being given. It really was most unfortunate."
"The appellant's story may have been highly improbable, but he was entitled to explain it to the jury without being subjected to sniper fire in the course of doing so. The potential for injustice is that if the jury, at the very time when they are listening to the witness giving his narrative account of events, do so to the accompaniment of questions from the Bench indicating to anybody with common sense that the judge does not believe a word of it, this may affect the mind of the jury as they listen to the account.
We have been driven in this case to the regretful conclusion that the nature and extent of interventions over the three days in which the appellant gave his evidence deprived him of the opportunity of having his evidence considered by the jury in the way that he was entitled. The conclusion from that is that we do not consider that he received the quality of fair trial to which he was entitled."
"A judge's part . . . is to hearken to the evidence, only himself asking questions of witnesses when it is necessary to clear up any point that has been overlooked or left obscure; to see that the advocates behave themselves seemly and keep to the rules laid down by law; to exclude irrelevances and discourage repetition; to make sure by wise intervention that he follows the points that the advocates are making and can assess their worth; and at the end to make up his mind where the truth lies. If he goes beyond this, he drops the mantle of a judge and assumes the role of an advocate; and the change does not become him well. Lord Chancellor Bacon spoke right when he said that: 'Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice; and an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal.'"
"Every defendant, we repeat, has the right to have his defence, whatever it may be, faithfully and accurately placed before the jury. But that is not to say that he is entitled to have it rehearsed blandly and uncritically in the summing up. No defendant has the right to demand that the judge shall conceal from the jury such difficulties and deficiencies as are apparent in his case. Of course, the judge must remain impartial. But if common sense and reason demonstrate that a given defence is riddled with implausibilities, inconsistencies and illogicalities . . . there is no reason for the judge to withhold from the jury the benefit of his own powers of logic and analysis. Why should pointing out those matters be thought to smack of partiality? To play a case straight down the middle requires only that a judge gives full and fair weight to the evidence and arguments of each side. The judge is not required to top up the case for one side so as to correct any substantial imbalance. He has no duty to cloud the merits either by obscuring the strengths of one side or the weaknesses of the other. Impartiality means no more and no less than that the judge shall fairly state and analyse the case for both sides. Justice moreover requires that he assists the jury to reach a logical and reasoned conclusion on the evidence. . . . Judges who go to the trouble of analysing the competing cases and who give the jury the benefit of that reasoned analysis . . . are to be congratulated and commended, not criticised and condemned."
In all of this, of course, it goes without saying that the judge in his summing up must make it abundantly plain that the all important conclusion on the facts is for the jury alone.