Dutch human rights activist, Olax Outis had no “lawful defence” and was stopped from give a closing speech – but was acquitted by the jury in a verdict seen as a snub to a system complicit in Genocide.
The maximum a magistrate could sentence for a single either-way offense changed from 6 months to 12 months then, someone accused of an either way offense could still elect to have their case in front of a jury at crown court (with the possibility of >12 month sentence). I wouldn’t consider that a particularly significant change, and it didn’t attract a large amount of criticism from the legal profession like the current proposed change has.
The maximum a magistrate could sentence for a single either-way offense changed from 6 months to 12 months then, someone accused of an either way offense could still elect to have their case in front of a jury at crown court (with the possibility of >12 month sentence). I wouldn’t consider that a particularly significant change, and it didn’t attract a large amount of criticism from the legal profession like the current proposed change has.