New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

First appeal court

Legal area

Court

24 Mar 2020

LOWENSTEIN v R [2020] NZCA 78

Citation

[2020] NZCA 78
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held the first appeal court under s 247 is determined on a sentence-by-sentence basis (focusing on the sentence for the particular category 3 offence and any jury election for that offence); because none of the individual sentences under appeal fell within the Court of Appeal's jurisdiction, the High Court is the first appeal court and the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction, so the appeal was dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
1 May 2018

VOHRA v R [2018] NZCA 128

Citation

[2018] NZCA 128
Court

Court of Appeal

The correct first appeal court is determined by applying ss 230 and 247 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 to the specific charge and plea: where a charge was the subject of a guilty plea and no jury election could be entered, appeals lie to the High Court (Vohra); where a defendant elected jury trial, pleaded guilty prior to trial and the sentence appealed exceeds five years, the statutory criteria in s 247(c) mean the Court of Appeal is the first appeal court (McKelvy). Jackson v R was not directly engaged and its statutory interpretation was not shown to be erroneous.
20 Dec 2016

MARTYN JACKSON V R [2016] NZCA 627

Citation

(2015) 28CRNZ 144
Court

Court of Appeal

An appeal against a refusal to discharge without conviction is properly characterised as an appeal against conviction and sentence, with the primary challenge being to the conviction; under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 the original election to a jury trial controls which court is the first appeal court, so where the appellant elected a jury trial the Court of Appeal is the first appeal court even if the election was later withdrawn.

New Zealand Case Law

LOWENSTEIN v R [2020] NZCA 78

VOHRA v R [2018] NZCA 128

MARTYN JACKSON V R [2016] NZCA 627