What is a Committal Mention?
A committal mention is the second step in the committal process, occurring after a filing hearing and before a full committal hearing. In Victoria, serious crimes (called indictable offences) generally proceed through the committal stream, beginning in the Magistrates’ Court. During committal proceedings, the Magistrates’ Court is where criminal charges are initially filed.
At a committal mention, your lawyer will indicate to the court whether you intend to plead guilty or not guilty in relation to your matter. This should only occur once your lawyer has considered the brief of evidence concerning the charges against you and provided you advice.
In terms of what happens after a committal mention, a magistrate can offer a summary hearing, commit an accused for trial in a higher court, determine an application to cross-examine witnesses or make other orders or directions.
What is the Purpose of a Committal Mention?
The purpose of a committal mention is for the defence and the prosecution to discuss any areas of disagreement, and to inform the magistrate on how each party believes the case should move forward.
What Happens before the Committal Mention?
Prior to the committal mention hearing, your lawyer should do the following;
- Consider the evidence and assess the strengths and weaknesses of your case;
- Consider what materials the prosecution might have in their possession that might be helpful to you and obtain them;
- Consider whether subpoenas will be required, for example, to obtain materials that might be considered confidential;
- Most importantly, consider and provide advice to you in relation to all the ancillary ramifications if you were to resolve your case – that means discussing with you in a very careful manner about all the potential consequences of pleading guilty or not guilty in relation to the charges that have been filed against you.
The standard practice in Victoria is that six weeks prior to the committal mention taking place, the police officer that charged you, will provide the brief of evidence (called the hand-up brief), to your nominated legal representative.
Upon receipt of the evidence;
- Your lawyer should provide you with a copy of that evidence. Your lawyer should then consider what further evidence needs to be sought from the prosecution.
- Following analysis and receipt of any further materials, your lawyer should then schedule a conference with you and take you through the prosecution’s version of events. This will provide you with the opportunity to give your instructions in relation to the evidence. That is tell the lawyer what you say happened and dispute things that might be said in the hand up brief.
- Once your instructions to your lawyer have been finalised, as part of the committal mention process, a Form 32 must be filed and served on the Court and the prosecution 7 days prior to the hearing.
What is a Form 32?
- The form 32 is a case direction notice utilised in relation to a committal mention. Whether the matter is being adjourned for a further committal mention, being adjourned for a plea of guilty or being adjourned for a committal hearing or summary jurisdiction application, a Form 32 must be filed.
- It is legislated per s119 of the CPA 2009 in conjunction with rule 59 of the Magistrates Court Criminal Procedure Rules 2019 that the prescribed form of case direction notice in the Magistrates Court regarding committal mentions is a Form 32.
- To see an example of a blank form 32, follow the link.
- The Form 32 is an extremely important document, as it sets the tone for the way the matter will proceed. The forensic decisions made when finalising a Form 32 are important and should always be done in consultation with a lawyer.
What happens at the committal mention?
On the day of the committal mention, your lawyer will appear on your behalf and advocate your position to the Magistrate. There will have been discussions with the prosecution prior to appearing. All areas of disagreement will be ventilated with the magistrate.
At this point, one of six things will occur:
- Your charges will be struck out, if your lawyer has negotiated with the prosecution before the committal mention and there is not enough evidence on the brief to support the the charges.
- Your matter will be adjourned for a further committal mention or committal case conference. This means that the process is put on hold, often to allow further negotiations to occur.
- Your matter will be adjourned to a contested committal (committal hearing). If this occurs, leave must be sought to cross-examine relevant witnesses at the committal mention stage.
- Your matter will be adjourned for a summary jurisdiction application which is heard at a further committal mention, this can lead to a quick resolution of the matter if successful.
- Your matter will be adjourned directly for either trial or guilty plea in the County Court or Supreme Court.
- You matter will be adjourned directly to the County Court, where a form 198A will be required prior to a first directions hearing and case initiation notice (CIN). This only relates to complainants who were cognitively impaired or a child at the time of charge. In most cases this will relate to a sexual offence. Sexual offences will be dealt with in a specialist court that only handles committal mentions relating to sexual offences. This court usual sits on a Friday in Melbourne.
How long does a committal mention take?
- As a general rule a well prepared committal mention, where an experienced lawyer is in attendance should not take longer than 10 minutes. If your lawyer is not prepared or the witnesses are not agreed to prior to attending court, it might take as long as 30 – 60 minutes depending on the number of witnesses in dispute.
A committal mention always relates to serious criminal charges and should be approached with caution, following consultation with a experienced criminal lawyer in Melbourne.
What is a Further Committal Mention?
A further committal mention occurs when a committal mention is adjourned to a later date, requiring another committal mention. This typically happens when the initial committal mention is postponed and the case is rescheduled for a number of reasons such as;
- The informant has not provided the evidence;
- There is a large amount of evidence provided in the hand-up brief and the defence requires a further period of time to consider the materials;
- There are funding issues in relation to the case;
- The prosecution are not ready to proceed;
- An offer has been submitted and the prosecution require further time to consider the proposed resolution.
It should not noted that magistrates sitting in the committal mention court do not adjourn theses types of hearings lightly. If you intend to make an application to adjourn your committal mention you would be well advised to obtain a lawyer.
There have been many occasions where unprepared, self represented defendants have had their matter adjourned directly to the County Court. It is important to be well prepared for any committal mention that you have to attend.
What is the Difference Between a Committal Mention and Committal Hearing?
- The primary difference between a committal mention and a committal hearing is that a committal mention is a shorter preliminary court appearance where no evidence is called, whereas the committal hearing is an opportunity to cross examine witnesses.
- At committal mention defence will file a Form 32, if the matter is proceeding to a committal hearing. This form must detail which witnesses the defence seek to cross examine at the committal hearing. Following these submissions, the magistrate will decide whether to permit the cross examination of the requested witnesses at the committal hearing. If the magistrate does not agree and does not grant leave for a particular witness, defence will not be permitted to cross examine that witness at a committal hearing.
- At a committal hearing, the witnesses where leave was granted, will be crossed examined. So the primary difference between a committal mention and a committal hearing is this, the committal mention is where you request leave to cross examine witness, the committal hearing is where you get to cross examine those witnesses.
Should I get a lawyer?
You would be very foolish if you didn’t. There are many questions that need to be considered in relation to every serious indictable case.
- Were any of the witnesses children at the time the criminal proceeding commenced?
- Do any of the witnesses have a cognitive impairment?
- Can the charges be dealt with in the summary jurisdiction?
These are just some of the questions that need to be answered for you to be properly represented. Many generalist lawyers don’t understand the relevance of these questions, which leads to embarrassment at Court, a loss of credibility with the prosecution, and ultimately a bad outcome in your case.
Don’t do yourself a disservice. If you are facing serious charges, you should call our office today. Our defence lawyers at Dribbin & Brown Criminal Lawyers practice exclusively in criminal law. The earlier you engage our services, the sooner we can start preparing to achieve your best outcome.
