Crown Court Appeals

The Crown Court hears the more serious criminal cases in England and Wales. Like the Magistrates’ Court, there are two ways in which you can be convicted. Firstly if you admit your guilt in the Crown Court you will have a conviction. Alternatively, you can be convicted by a jury. A jury must be certain (so that they are sure) that you are guilty, before they can find you guilty of an offence. If your Crown Court case was an appeal against sentence or conviction from the Magistrates’ Court, you have no further right to appeal.

Court Procedure

After you are convicted, your defence lawyer must advise you as to the prospects of success of an appeal. A notice of appeal must be given to the criminal division of the Court of Appeal within 28 days of the decision you are appealing. In some circumstances, such as if you have been found guilty after a trial and the trial judge has ordered that reports should be prepared for your sentencing hearing, you may need to provide notice of your decision to appeal your conviction before you are actually sentenced.

Further, these types of appeals from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal are not re-hearings. The Court of Appeal considers submissions from counsel, which can be given orally or in writing. An appeal can be against conviction or sentence but, unlike appeals from the Magistrates’ Court to the Crown Court, there is no automatic right to appeal save for in two limited circumstances:

• if the sole ground(s) for your appeal involve(s) a question of law only
• in exceptional cases, the trial judge in the Crown Court may certify that the case is fit for appeal

Obtaining Leave to Appeal

In order to appeal, you are required to obtain ‘leave’ (permission) from the Court of Appeal. In the first instance, you apply for leave to appeal to a single judge who will consider your request on the papers alone. If this is refused, you can apply in front of the full court. However if this application (either on paper or verbally in front of the full court) is refused the court has the power to direct that the time you have spent in prison to date has not counted towards your sentence, lengthening the amount of time you will have to spend in prison.

Appeal Against Conviction

The Court of Appeal will only overturn a conviction if they consider it to be ‘unsafe’. Appeals against conviction do not entitle the Court of Appeal to increase your sentence if they decide not to overturn your conviction, but they do have the power to order you to pay the prosecution costs if you are unsuccessful (this is generally rare, given that you have already sought and obtained permission from the Court to have your appeal heard.)

Appeal Against Sentence

The Court of Appeal will only re-sentence you if they consider that your sentence was either ‘wrong in principle’ (e.g. contrary to the law) or ‘manifestly excessive.’ However, it is not just the defence that can appeal against a sentence imposed at the Crown Court. If the prosecution considers that the judge gave you a sentence which was ‘unduly lenient’ they can also appeal to the Court of Appeal to ask them to give you a more hefty sentence. In these circumstances, however, the Court of Appeal often deducts a certain amount from the normal sentencing tariff because of the fact that the respondent (defendant) will now be facing a more weighty sentence than previously imposed.