Manslaughter/Murder

If you agree that you have committed the offence and the police are able to prove all the elements of the offence, it is best to plead guilty at an early opportunity to receive the maximum discount. Currently the maximum discount available for an early plea of guilty is 25% of the sentence.

Furthermore, the early guilty plea shows the Court that you have remorse and contrition for your actions.

Our Lawyers at National Criminal Lawyers work closely with you to ensure that we obtain all necessary paper work to get you the best result.

Murder/Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of life Imprisonment or 25 years.

Please note that the penalties mentioned are reserved for the worse case offending and may be unlikely the penalty you receive.

If you decide to plead not guilty you will need to prepare to go to a Defended Hearing.

A defended hearing is where all the witnesses of that case are called to give evidence. The witnesses are both examined by the prosecution and tested by your defence lawyers.

National Criminal Lawyers have defended several people charged with Murder/Manslaughter and are experts at Briefing Counsel for these hearings.

Defence of Murder/Manslaughter charges will rely on intent, motive, forensic evidence and witness statements, as well thorough preparation of evidence.

Some of the possible defences available for those charged with Murder/Manslaughter can include:

• • To maintain your innocence if you did not commit the act;
  • To argue that you did not do an act or did not fail to act;
  • To argue that you did not cause the death of the person;
  • To argue that you did not intend to kill the person;
  • To argue that you did not intend to cause the person really serious injury;
  • To argue that you did not foresee that it was probable that death would result; or
  • Duress-If you were compelled to act in a certain way due to the circumstances, or the threats of another you may be able to argue “Duress”
  • Necessity – If your actions were necessary to prevent a greater harm from occurring, you may have the defence of-Necessity.
  • Self-defence – If you were defending yourself or another OR yours or another’s property you may have a Defence of Self-Defence even in situations where “Pre-Emptive Force” is used. Moreover, at times there “No duties or need to retreat” and/or;
  • There is a partial defence of provocation.

In NSW, a court can impose any of the following penalties for a Murder/Manslaughter charge.

• • • Prison sentence;
    • Home Detention;
    • Intensive correction order (previously periodic detention).

However, from the 24 September 2018 new penalty’s will be replacing the above. They are as follows:

• • • Full time Imprisonment;
    • New ICO (ICO) with a home detention condition available.

While living abroad in London United Kingdom our senior solicitor was instrumental at obtaining and furnishing expert psychological and other forms of evidence and Briefing Counsel at the famous Old Bailey Crown Court for a charge of Murder. As a result of that research and information the lady we were representing beat the murder charge and plead guilty to Manslaughter instead. Due to our solicitor’s due diligence a Lady who had no previous convictions who in a fit of momentary loss of self-control stabbed her mother in law over 28 times with a kitchen knife while the victim was in the Bath received 9 years imprisonment opposed to life. This was an excellent result. To receive this result, we had to provide the evidence that our client (1) had no previous record (2) had a mother in law that was very very burdensome to care for (3) that the husband did not help with the caring responsibilities and (4) that the accused and many others had made numerous recorded attempts with an array of authorities to get some respite (but to no avail). In light of this evidence the Crown agreed to drop the charge of Murder and the client plead to the lessor charge of voluntary manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.