A NEW law allowing for retrials in certain circumstances in serious criminal cases came into effect yesterday, with the coming into force of the Criminal Procedure Act 2010.
First announced by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern in June 2008, the Bill was introduced in the Dáil last February and fast-tracked to ensure its passage was completed by the end of the last Dáil term.
The Act permits retrials where the defendant has been acquitted but where the acquittal can be shown to have been undeserved due to the emergence of new and compelling evidence; or because there was interference with the trial process that affected the verdict; or where the judge erred in law by, for example, excluding certain evidence.
Previously, a person acquitted by a judge and jury could not be retried on the same offence, regardless of whatever new evidence emerged.
Mr Ahern described the new measures as “a significant and historic development in our criminal law”. He said: “I believe most members of the public will welcome this, particularly victims, who are deeply upset by the knowledge that guilty persons were not being convicted for their crimes.
“There can be no greater grief for a family than knowing in their hearts a guilty person has walked free and that, even if new evidence emerges, a person acquitted of murder can never face a retrial. From today that has been rectified.”
He stressed that retrials could happen only in serious cases, and only after the courts had granted an application by the DPP to quash the acquittal and order a retrial.
The Act sets high thresholds which the DPP will be required to meet before an application is made.
The Act also expands the circumstances in which victim-impact statements can be made to include offences causing emotional distress, such as harassment and stalking.