Please Help Me!!!!

[Crispyducc]

Hi, I've got no previous convictions and got into a bit of bother outside a pub a couple of months ago, now have been charged with a section 20.... I hit somebody once but have been accused of hitting somebody else but its not clear on CCTV atall. I'm not a nasty person and really don't want to go to prison over this 5 seconds of madness! Please help?!

[bednobs]

firstly, have you got a solicitor?

[Crispyducc]

No I haven't! I didn't think this was that serious! :(

[Buenchico]

If it's only a 'Level 3' section 20 offence (where both 'harm' and 'culpability' are assessed as low) the chances of you going to prison are low. The 'starting point' sentence for a first-time offender who is convicted after a trial is a 'high level' community order (with the judge then being able to go down to a 'low level' community order or up to 51 weeks imprisonment). The sentence for an offender who pleads guilty at the first opportunity will be lower. (In the case of a custodial sentence, that's by one third, but that's probably not relevant here).

If it's a Category 2 offence (where either 'culpability' or 'harm' is assessed as 'high', but the other isn't) a custodial sentence is almost certain, as it would be for a Category 1 offence. See pages 8 to 10 here:
http://sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov.uk/docs/Assault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf
(That's the actual document which judges must refer to).

Chris

[Buenchico]

Crossed posts!

Get yourself a solicitor and, in the first instance, ask him/her to review the evidence against you in respect of the decision to charge you with GBH rather than ABH.

From the Crown Prosecution Service website:
"Grievous bodily harm means really serious bodily harm. It is for the jury to decide whether the harm is really serious. However, examples of what would usually amount to really serious harm include:
injury resulting in permanent disability, loss of sensory function or visible disfigurement;
broken or displaced limbs or bones, including fractured skull, compound fractures, broken cheek bone, jaw, ribs, etc;
injuries which cause substantial loss of blood, usually necessitating a transfusion or result in lengthy treatment or incapacity;
serious psychiatric injury. As with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, appropriate expert evidence is essential to prove the injury".

If those level of injuries weren't sustained by the victim, then the charge should only be ABH, not GBH. (Solicitors or barristers can often successfully argue such a case before the matter comes to court, so that you'd only face the lower charge).

[tonywiltshire]

Good advice as usual from Chris. Try to find a firm who have a partner or member who is well known at your local courts, they may be members of the duty solicitor’s scheme and they may know all the people involved, it should not make a difference but it may.

[EDDIE51]

It is possible that the charge will be dropped or the court will allow you to plead guilty to the lesser charge of ABH which will not involve a prison sentence but you need a solicitor.

[craft1948]

May I ask what made you find this site, specifically to ask this question?

[EDDIE51]

Crispyducc It is serious, you admit to hitting someone and have been charged with GBH S20 . It is quite possible to get a prison sentence for this you really need a solicitor, go and find one tomorrow morning.

[magsmay]

@ craft
//May I ask what made you find this site, specifically to ask this question?//

more than likely Google -why do you ask?

Google brought me here for my first ever question about a Land Registry query -I'd never heard of the AB site until then.