Sentence indications continue to increase
Defendants in Palmerston North courts are embracing the chance to get a sneak peak at their possible punishments, with sentenceindication applications nearly tripling in four years.
People who appear in court have been able to ask for a judge to give them an idea of what their sentence will be since the Criminal Procedure Act came into effect in 2011.
Sentence indications work a lot like normal sentencing: there is an agreed summary of facts; defence and prosecution make submissions, and the judge gives out a sentence.
However, defendants then have time to consider if they will accept the indication or not. If they do not, they will continue through the court system.
If they accept it, they will then be remanded for sentencing with the expectation they will be given a sentence in line with the indication.
District courts general manager Tony Fisher said an indication application can have three outcomes – a judge accepts the application, declines the application, or it is withdrawn by the defendant.
The number of applications for indications have grown by 102 per cent from 2012 to 2015, from 1399 to 2835.
But in Palmerston North, there were 33 applications in 2012 and 115 in 2015 – a 248.5 per cent increase.
The ratio of the number being granted has remained fairly static – 25 in 2012, 79 in 2015 – during that time.
Dannevirke had its first two applications for indications in 2015, while Levin had 13 and Marton two.
While sentencing indications may be good for giving a defendant an idea of their sentence, the process is sometimes not easy on victims.
Linton man Paul Roger Herrick sought a sentence indication before pleading guilty to various sexual offences against children – crimes he committed while working as a teacher at Awamoa School, south of Oamaru, in the 1980s. At his sentencing, a victim impact statement referenced the fact Herrick had sought a sentence indication despite writing letters of remorse to his victims the day after he was charged.
The victim said they had expected Herrick to plead guilty, so was shocked to hear about him seeking a sentence indication, raising some doubt about the defendant’s intentions.
Herrick was given an indication of between four years and six months, and five years.
Judge Jim Large said at sentencing that was done because factors like pre-sentence reports and restorative justice could impact on the final outcome.
At sentencing, the judge got to an end sentence of five years before giving a three-month deduction for Herrick taking part in restorative justice with one of his victims.
The report that was prepared after the restorative justice reading was ‘‘moving’’, the judge said.
‘‘I don’t think, from my reading of all of the documentation, that there was anything being said [at the restorative justice conference] that was not being properly felt,’’ the judge said.