Pubdate: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2006 The Age Company Ltd Contact: http://www.theage.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5 Author: Fergus Shiel OMBUDSMAN BACKS TOP COP VICTORIA'S highest ranking detective has the backing of the Ombudsman for a debate on scrapping committal hearings in serious criminal cases, but lawyers fiercely oppose the idea. Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland said Magistrates Court committal hearings were obsolete and unnecessarily delayed big jury trials. His call for reform came a day after millionaire drug dealer Tony Mokbel was convicted over a cocaine importation. Mokbel, who had been on bail for more than three years, disappeared last week days before the jury retired to consider its verdict. Ombudsman George Brouwer said last year that he wanted the right of people charged with serious criminal offences to a committal hearing to be reviewed, as pre-trial hearings were of questionable value in certain cases. Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Coghlan, QC, ordered in 2004 that three underworld figures should be presented directly to the Supreme Court, but they won the right to committal hearings. They were later sent to trial. Attorney-General Rob Hulls views committal hearings as important for the accused to understand the case against them and a cost-effective way of flushing out issues in dispute and narrowing legal questions. But Mr Hulls said he was prepared to consider reforms to speed up the process. "These include compulsory conferences between the parties before the first committal hearing." Chief Magistrate Ian Gray said yesterday that his court had done everything it could to reduce delays in criminal prosecutions, including fast-tracking committal hearings in major criminal trials. He said committal hearings remained a valuable part of the court process, especially in very serious and complex criminal charges. Office of Public Prosecutions figures for 2003-04 show there were 1290 contested committals and 80 direct presentments to the County and Supreme courts. Both the Law Institute and the Criminal Bar Association are opposed to abolishing committal hearings, which they say play an important role in refining legal questions and weeding out cases that should not go to trial or should become pleas. "If you didn't have committal hearings, you would have much longer trials," Criminal Bar Association head Lex Lasry, QC, said. "Any proper analysis of committals demonstrates that they are useful, not obsolete. We are totally opposed to abolishing committals." In Victoria, a magistrate only has to find there is sufficient evidence to support a conviction before committing a person to trial. But in NSW, the magistrate had to show there is a reasonable prospect of conviction. WHAT IS A COMMITTAL HEARING? THIS is the hearing where a magistrate decides if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. Committal hearings take place in the Magistrates' Court. The case against the accused person is presented at the committal hearing by counsel on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. At the end of the hearing, if the accused is committed, they can enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. Or they can reserve their plea. The accused is then remanded or bailed before their trial or plea hearing. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek