Marek Hamlin specialises in representing people who are charged with criminal offences. He regularly successfully defends individuals charged with a range of offences, from minor to extremely serious matters and is also an expert on negotiation. The criminal process can appear overwhelming. As your advocate, part of his role is to guide you through each step with clarity, professionalism, and transparency.

 

Being charged with any offence can appear traumatic. Being convicted of a crime can cost you your freedom, reputation, job and more. If you or someone you know has been charged with an offence, you need a lawyer with thorough knowledge and extensive courtroom advocacy skills. You also need a lawyer who will respond to your questions and concerns through every step of the legal process. Marek Hamlin has the skills, knowledge and expertise to help.

 

Key areas:

• Dishonesty offences including fraud and financial crime

• Burglary, Theft and receiving stolen property

• Family violence

• Assault and robbery charges

• Drug-related offences

• Driving-related offending

• Firearms and weapon charges

• Proceeds of crime and forfeiture proceedings

• Appeals

• Discharge without conviction applications

• Department of Corrections charges

 

Whether you are facing being questioned by police or another authority, or have already been arrested, Marek’s expert knowledge is available to you throughout the process to achieve the best possible outcome given the circumstances. Marek can help with applying for bail, reviewing the merits of your case, defending charge(s) at trial, obtaining a sentence indication and reaching the most appropriate and least restrictive end sentence. If you are unhappy with the outcome of earlier court proceedings, he can assist with appeals against convictions and sentences.

 

If you or a person you know are subject to parole, Marek is an expert in appearing as counsel at Parole Board hearings (including Recall and Monitoring to challenge conditions). He will guide anyone applying for parole carefully through the process and effectively prepare to appear before the Parole Board and provide effective representation at the hearing.

 

General processes and procedures

All cases are unique, and the process for dealing with each case varies accordingly. The following is a general overview of the Court process, explaining examples of a common issues Marek regularly deals and assists with:

 

After an incident is alleged to have occurred, a person can be arrested and charged with an offence. Even after being arrested, it is best to contact Marek and his team as soon as possible (support staff including employed barristers). We would usually advise not to provide a statement. Any statement can be made at a later date with a lawyer present, if one is eventually made at all.  An arrest is usually followed by an initial court appearance, which can happen as quickly as the following day if the person charged is taken into custody. Alternatively, they may be served with a summons to attend court, usually within a 14-day period.

 

At the first court appearance, the person does not have to enter a plea to the charges. This is often the date where police will provide a copy of the summary documents involved in the prosecution evidence. The preliminary prosecution evidence is called initial disclosure. It is often a good idea to first seek a “remand without plea”. This essentially gives the person more time to review the available evidence and seek legal advice.

 

Prior to the next hearing, review of the current disclosure is important (documents provided by the prosecution office). You can also be assisted with making any necessary applications and if able to early, discuss the merits of the defence case versus the potential risks of proceeding to trial. Where a charge carries a maximum penalty of two years or more, the person charged also has the choice of proceeding to a Judge-alone trial or a trial by jury. We will advise on our recommended course of action based on the individual circumstances of the case.

 

In some circumstances, where the evidence against a client is immediately strong, there are benefits (including discounts available) for entering a guilty plea at an early stage. Where we identify that this is the case, clear advice will be provided on any measures that can be taken in advance of sentencing to potentially reduce your sentence.

 

Where you have little or no criminal history, a discharge without conviction or diversion may be available to you as an alternative to being convicted and sentenced. This “second chance” approach may assist where there is a risk of losing your job or being unable to obtain employment in your desired field of work. When reviewing your matter, Marek and his team will consider whether this is a viable option in your circumstances.
 

If a not guilty plea is entered, the prosecution at this point is required to provide full disclosure. This is the complete prosecution file containing all the available alleged evidence. We may find that on receipt of full disclosure, the evidence against you is compelling. Where this is the case, we can engage in discussions with the prosecutor to potentially have your charge reduced to something less serious (‘plea deal’) or even have one or more charges withdrawn. At this point, our focus will shift to achieving the least restrictive outcome at sentencing.

 

If you decide to continue to trial, Marek will engage in any necessary pre-trial hearings and prepare for a full defended hearing. He will advocate for each client to the best of his ability to achieve the best possible outcome at trial given the circumstances and evidence.

 

Bail and bail conditions

Upon being charged with an offence, the person will normally be subjected to bail conditions. This will usually be the case unless the charge is punishable by a fine only. Depending on the charges and the person’s history of offending (if any), the restrictiveness of bail conditions will vary. Marek has extensive experience in achieving bail and negotiating fair conditions for his clients. He can also apply to vary your bail conditions later in proceedings.

 

Defending the charges at a trial

After entering a not guilty plea (or pleas), the next court date will usually be a case review hearing. This hearing should be approximately four to six weeks after. We will request and obtain disclosure for the case (all documentation relating to the allegations) and review your options. Depending on the situation, the person charged may have a realistic and strong defence. This should always be considered if available. While advice could be on whether it is in your best interests to proceed to trial, alternatively the advice could be on potentially resolving the charges (which could include negotiation to amend or withdraw charges) or argue that the charge(s) should be withdrawn or dismissed.

 

At the case review hearing, several options need to be canvassed. This is either to notify to the Court that the matter is to proceed to trial (and also on pre-trial issues), the charges can be resolved by entering guilty pleas to all or some (depending on prior negotiations), or the person can ask for an indication of the type and length of sentence if the person later entered guilty pleas.

 

At trial, the prosecutor must prove the charge(s) “beyond a reasonable doubt”. This means to be convicted of the charge, the Judge or jury must be sure of the person’s guilt. At trial, the prosecutor will present their case, often calling witnesses for questioning and presenting exhibits. The defendant has the option of giving evidence, which involves being subjected to questioning by both defence and prosecution counsel. This may provide the opportunity to outline the defence where required. The Judge or jury then decide if the prosecution have proved guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In order to prepare the case and defend the charge, it may also be important to involve defence witnesses who can support the defence version of events and potentially discredit the prosecution case. This is merely an overview; each matter will follow a different process depending on what is required.

 

Sentencing

Where the evidence against a client is strong, we can advise on the merits of entering a guilty plea to the charge. In some cases, this will achieve the best possible outcome and result in the lowest penalty available in the circumstance. At sentencing, the Judge reads and hears submissions from both defence and prosecution counsel. Reports (including expert reports such as psychological or cultural reports), are also taken into account, along with the victim’s views if applicable.

 

Judges are often guided by previous sentencing decisions on similar matters; accordingly, part of the lawyer’s role is to research comparable case law and make submissions to the Judge to obtain a similar or lesser sentence. This includes assisting with and outlining personal mitigating factors clearly.

 

Discharge without conviction

Upon a full review of your file and personal circumstances, it may be appropriate to apply for a discharge without conviction. This is further outlined in Section 106 and 107 of the Sentencing Act 2002 and provides that where the consequences of a conviction are all out of proportion to the seriousness (or gravity) of the offending, an applicant can be discharged without conviction. Where this is the case, the person charged is not convicted and no punitive sentence is applied other than any other appropriate order such as reparation or disqualification.

 

An application for a discharge without conviction is more likely to be successful if the person does not have any history of offending, or has only one or two minor convictions irrelevant to the present offending. Consequences can include where an applicant would lose their job, or be prevented from attaining future employment, impact others, impact their immigration or loving status or face extensive public scrutiny if convicted.

 

Marek has extensive experience in preparing discharge without conviction applications and will provide clear advice on the likelihood of success.