appealing against magistrates decision

[danchip]

I broke up a fight last july between my brother and taxi driver, got arrested with my brother as taxi driver claimed we both attacked him, my brother admitted hitting him and causing taxi driver a small cut above his eye, got charged with ABH and finally went to trial. during trial the magistrates unbelievebly believed every lie the taxi driver told and decided the 4 defence witnesses myself and my brother were all fabricating the events of what happened and that i had assaulted him aswell as my brother, they found us both guilty and gave us 2 year conditional discharge and also �200 compensation and �650 court costs.

My solicitor and my brothers solicitor have told me i should appeal as the magistrates have to be 100% sure that i did it or they cant find me guilty and theres no way they could be.

My question is, if i do appeal and it goes to crown court and somehow i'm found guilty again what would be the likely outcome and would it be likely that the sentence would be greater than what i've already got. Or should i just take the slap on the wrists and forget about it!

( another example of the great british judicial system working properly again)

[Mamjet]

'unbelievably believed' - nice phrase.

This IS actually a perfectly fine example of the justice system working adequately. Imagine if you're a judge and this case comes before you. Now, do taxi drivers have a history of attacking groups of lads for no reason? Or do pea-brained idiots like yourself get drunk and think because they're with their brother they can try and act 'the big I am' and beat up defenceless members of the public, until they wake up the next day, start crying about the British justice system and start wondering about how they can get off scot-free.

Go on, appeal - I hope they lock you up and you get bummed in the showers by mr. Big who's in with all the wardens.

[RevFunk]

Not what you want to hear but moral of the story is dont put yourself in the situation in the first place.

I would just take the punishment and learn from it.

[Rtaxron]

I would have thought your solicitor could have told you that, he should have more knowledge of the law than most of the AB members here, its his job?

[New Judge]

Your appeal will be heard by a panel of a Crown Court judge and two magistrates (from a different bench to the one that convicted you).

If they allow your appeal you can claim your costs. If they do not they can increase your sentence but this is unlikley. However you will have to pay costs which, if my memory serves me well, will be in the region of �300.

The magistrates do not have to be 100% sure. Nobody, other than those present at the scene can be that sure (and even some of those sometimes have difficulty). They have to be sure of your guilt "beyond reasonable doubt" - not beyond any doubt whatsoever. They obviously were and in delivering their verdict the chairman should have outlined what led them to that decision (i.e. what they believed and what they did not).

You are entitled to see that reasoning (it is recoreded in the court records) and you and your legal advisor should study it carefully before deciding how to proceed.