If you are found guilty or you intend to plead guilty to a traffic or driving offence, a compelling character reference letter for a Judge or Magistrate to read can significantly improve your sentence outcome in court.
Letterhead here if possible i.e. LMN Pty Ltd
To: The Presiding Local Court Magistrate or District Court Judge
A character reference letter can come from someone close to the offender. This includes, family, charity, partner, friend, employer, colleague and/or religious organisation.
The referee should be carefully chosen as the best person capable of putting across relevant points that a Magistrate or Judge can properly consider so that you can get a better sentence result in court.
Picking the appropriate referee will depend on the driving offence type and the offender’s personal
circumstances.
For example, if you wish to point out the hardship a family dependent will suffer in the event that you are disqualified from driving or dismissed from work, it will be worthwhile getting a character reference letter from that dependent briefly outlining details of this and why.
If you are a partner to the offender and financially rely on his/her income, and perhaps also rely on him/her to drive to attend to child commitments, such as driving kids to and from school/day care, you may briefly outline this.
If you wish to outline the extent that your driver licence is required for work, it will be worthwhile getting a letter from your employer briefly outling details of this.
An experienced traffic lawyer can guide you in this process.
There is no rule as to how many character reference letters you are allowed to use in court.
You should keep each letter to one page, and as a general rule, hand up between 2 to 4 of your best letters for the Judge or Magistrate to read.
Magistrates and Judges are required to hear and deal with a large case load in a day. They therefore have limited time to hear your case. You will likely get a better response if you keep your documents as short, concise and to the point as possible.
Avoid duplicating the relevant points you make across multiple character reference letters where using
more than one.
Each case will depend on its own circumstances and it’s a good idea to have an experienced traffic lawyer guide you in this process. Some more complex cases may require more reference letters to be used to ensure that all relevant points are made for the Magistrate or Judge to take into account in your sentence.
Where the driving offence is dealt with in the Local Court, a local court Magistrate will be deciding on the sentence. Here, the referee will not normally be required to attend court to give evidence. It is very rare for the referee to be required to attend court in the local court.
Where the driving offence is dealt with in the District Court, a District Court Judge will be deciding on the sentence. Here, the referee may sometimes be required to attend court to give evidence only if the prosecutor requests.
This can be avoided if the prosecution is given a copy of the letters in advance, in which case the prosecutor may not require the referee to attend court to give evidence.
Sometimes an affidavit reflecting the contents of the character reference letter will be more appropriate to getting a better outcome.
An affidavit that’s properly drafted and executed from each referee can also avoid the requirement of the person attending court to give evidence if the prosecutor has no objections to its contents.
An affidavit is sworn evidence in a legal document. Due to it being sworn evidence, it has a more powerful effect in court.
A reminder that each character reference letter will be handed up to a Judge or Magistrate to read in the driving matter for sentence. It is important to ensure that the contents of each letter are true and accurate.
Remember, these letters will be given to the Judge or Magistrate to read. It is important to ensure that each
letter is original, accurate and true.
Our team of specialist drink driving lawyers have over 30-years-experience specialising in serious drink driving cases. We have successfully achieved outstanding results, which include:
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