Bill of indictment definition

View the related practice notes about Bill of indictment

Voluntary bill of indictment

Voluntary bill of indictmentAn indictment may, exceptionally, be preferred (ie served on a Crown Court) by the direction or with the consent of a High Court judge under the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933 (AJ(MP)A 1933). This is also known as a 'voluntary bill'. These are rare because a voluntary bill can only be preferred in certain limited circumstances:•if the bill is preferred by the direction of the Court of Criminal Appeal or by the direction or with the consent of a judge of the High Court•with the consent of a judge of the Crown Court following a declaration by the court under paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 17 to the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA 2013) (court approval of deferred prosecution agreement) •if the charge, or any of the charges, against the applicant is dismissed and ◦no further proceedings may be brought on the dismissed charge or charges, except by means of the preferment of a voluntary bill, and◦unless the applicant is in custody otherwise than on...

Application to dismiss

Application to dismissUnder paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 3 to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (CDA 1998), a defendant may (after the date when they are served with the documents containing the evidence on which the charge(s) are based, but before the date of arraignment) apply orally or in writing to the Crown Court for the charge(s) to be dismissed.The defendant may apply to the Crown Court in question for all or any of the charges in the case to be dismissed.The procedure is governed by Criminal Procedure Rules 2020 (CrimPR), SI 2020/759, r 3.20.How to make an application to dismissIf the defendant wishes to make an application to dismiss, they must apply in writing not more than 20 business days after service of the prosecution evidence and before they are arraigned.An application may be made to extend the time.The application must be served on the Crown Court officer and each other party to the proceedings.The application must:•explain why the prosecution evidence would not be sufficient for the defendant to...