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MyDefence News.

News on cases our referred lawyers have been defending and information for everyone's legal life skills.

The transport police entering your carriage on a train can send dread through the hearts of most commuters. So what happens when you think you have a valid ticket and the officer scans it and it reads as invalid? The Victorian Transport Regulations conveniently outline the key defence that is deemed acceptable where a ticket is scanned as invalid. It is a defence to a charge under that the commuter took all reasonable steps to
Criminal justice tends not to discriminate when it comes to the laying of police charges and the prosecutors' ability to prove those charges. Whether you have a clean criminal record or have been before the courts previously, you are treated the same. Where circumstances seem genuinely unfair, we’ve often been told by prosecutors that “it’s not about fairness.” Sausage factory justice The “summary” stream of the court system can be likened the worst company you’ve
When you are charged with an offence, the police will normally interview you. Sometimes it can happen without you knowing, such as being caught speeding - an officer will ask why you were speeding. You may think this is just conversational, but in reality the officer is looking for an admission that makes for a stronger case in prosecuting you in court. Answering "no comment" At the same time people often think that by saying
Driving and traffic offences are some of the most common offences MyDefence sees from clients. The normal questions asked is whether a client can get off on a technicality. The short answer is yes but you have to be lucky. These kinds of offences can be difficult to challenge as often there is photographic evidence or a laser detector used. However MyDefence lawyers have had success in finding technical defences or holes in the evidence.
MyDefence lawyers work hard to either get charges withdrawn or lowered. Sometimes this happens in a plea deal with the prosecutor where our client agrees to plead guilty to lesser or fewer charges in order to get the more serious charges withdrawn. We will only recommend this if we advise that the evidence that the prosecutor has will prove an offence. A plea of guilty also gets a sentencing discount of around 25% less than
In the wake of well publicised crimes committed by persons on bail, the Victorian Government changed the bail laws to make it more difficult to be granted bail. As a consequence, our remand centres have unprecedented numbers of persons awaiting resolution of their matters. When the police oppose bail, the person charged has to establish either “compelling reasons” or “exceptional circumstances” that they should be granted bail. The difference between these two depends on the
A client of ours was talking with two other people on a footpath in the inner city on a Friday evening when police interrupted them. They asked what they were up to and asked for her name and identification. She complied and said that she was waiting for someone who owed her some money in the units behind them. There was some graffiti on a wall on the units saying that a person was owed