Newton hearing


A Newton hearing or inquiry is a comparatively modern legal procedure in English law, used where the two sides offer such conflicting evidence that a judge sitting alone tries to ascertain which party is telling the truth. They are generally used when a defendant pleads guilty to an offence, but there are factual issues that need to be resolved between the prosecution and defence.

Origin

The name stems from a 1983 case, R v Newton, in which the defendant admitted buggery but claimed his wife had given her consent. The Court of Appeal ruled that in such cases there were three ways of resolving the issue. It may be possible to obtain the answer from a Jury by directing them to consider whether there is the necessary intent for a specific offence or whether a lesser offence which does not require intent is made out. If that is not possible then either
The Newton Hearing itself operates like a "mini trial", with a judge deciding the disputed points based upon testimony and submissions, rather than a jury. The burden of proof is on the prosecution, who must prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
For a defendant, there is a balance of risk and benefit to consider. As the Newton hearing takes court time, resources, and perhaps witness testimony, if unsuccessful it will reduce any sentencing credit that might otherwise have been obtained. This aspect has been criticized, on the basis that no such risk exists for the prosecutors, and therefore the Newton Hearing could "allow unrealistic, bullying or foolhardy prosecutors to force defendants to choose between having a Newton hearing and playing it safe". In this sense a Newton hearing may be seen as stacked heavily against a defendant, who must prove the entirety of their concern in order not to suffer from it:

Notable cases

These include:
In 2008, James Hamilton, then Director of Public Prosecutions, expressed doubt as to whether a Newton hearing would be compatible with the Constitution of Ireland's guarantee of the right to a jury trial. Nevertheless, such hearings have been held, including in an Anglo Irish Bank trial in 2014, and a trial in the juryless Special Criminal Court in 2017.