Supreme Court Bail
Are you applying for Supreme Court bail?
What is bail?
Being on bail means you are not in gaol as you wait for your case to come on. You can get bail from either:
¨ the police when you are first arrested
¨ a Magistrate in a Local Court
¨ a Judge of the District Court
¨ a Justice of the Supreme Court
If bail is refused or granted with certain conditions that you can't meet (by either a Magistrate or a District Court Judge), you can then apply to the Supreme Court for bail.
Before you apply to the Supreme Court for bail there are some things you should know.
How many times can you apply for bail?
You will probably only be able to make one application to the Supreme Court for bail. In the Local or District Courts there is no limit to the number of bail applications you can make. If you have already had a bail hearing in the Supreme Court, you won't be able to make another application for the same charges unless you can show that your circumstances have changed.
Just because you were not properly prepared during the first Supreme Court bail application will probably not be a good enough reason to convince the court to give you another hearing.
If you are not fully prepared the first time it is wise to withdraw the application and re-apply when you are ready, or adjourn the application to a date when you will be ready.
Who should you bring to court?
The judge will want to hear evidence from people who will support your bail application. These could include people you might live with or people who will put up money or property to secure your bail. When you know the date of your bail application you should contact these people and ask them to be at the court.
If you want to do rehabilitation while you are on bail, contact the rehabilitation centre before you apply for bail because they will need to assess you. When your bail application is heard, you will need a letter from the centre saying they will accept you and detailing their program. It helps if somebody from the centre can come to court and give evidence. Without this evidence it is highly unlikely that you will be granted bail to attend a rehabilitation centre.
What happens if you can't meet your bail conditions?
If you have been granted bail in the Local or District Courts that you can't meet, you should go back to the court that granted bail and try to have the conditions changed before you apply to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court judge could grant you the same bail as you were given before, change your conditions, or refuse your bail altogether. The Crown can ask for tougher conditions.
Will you stay in custody even if bail is granted?
If you are in custody because you are also refused bail on other matters, or your parole has been revoked or you are serving a sentence, the Supreme Court cannot grant you bail.
You have appealed - can you get bail?
If you have been convicted or sentenced in the Local Court, you must lodge your appeal to the District Court before applying to the Supreme Court for bail.
If you have appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal against your conviction and/or your sentence in the District or Supreme Courts, you can apply for bail in the Supreme Court. However, you will have to show that there are special circumstances before the court will hear your bail application.
Special circumstances include that you will probably have served most of your sentence before your appeal is heard and/or that you are most likely to win your appeal. For this reason it's best to have the merit of your appeal assessed before applying for Supreme Court bail. Without any evidence that you are likely to win your appeal, it is unlikely that you will be granted bail.
Do you want Legal Aid to represent you?
When you put in your bail application to the Supreme Court, tick the box if you need Legal Aid.
If you have any questions, see the Prisoners Legal Service when they visit the gaol or ring the Supreme Court Bails Section of Legal Aid on (02) 9219 5001
See also:
Procedures relating to Sureties in the Supreme Court - information on bail procedures in the Supreme court; and
Bail Refund Procedures - information on the procedures you need to follow to get bail returned in a crminal case.
Both of these pages are on the Supreme Court NSW website. |
