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Expert Defence Lawyers for Homicide Charges

Homicide offences are covered by Part 3 Division 1 of the Crimes Act 1900 and broadly refer to the unlawful killing of another person. Homicide is generally referred to as either murder or manslaughter. In NSW, there are also specific charges relating to child murder, infanticide and assault causing death.

Murder

Under section 18(1)(a), murder is made out when a voluntary act or omission causes the death of the deceased and the act is committed with:

 

  • an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or
  • an intent to kill, or
  • reckless indifference to human life, or
  • committed by the accused or some accomplice with him or her in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission of, an offence punishable by at least 25 years imprisonment (constructive murder).

The maximum penalty for murder is imprisonment for life. It is important to note that this is an offence which carries a term of a standard non-parole period of 25 years. That is, even if you do not get the maximum penalty, you must spend a minimum of 25 years in prison.

Under section 19B of the Crimes Act 1900, if you murder a police officer, there is no standard-non parole period, and you are required to serve a sentence of life. The term life means natural life. The only time the life sentence will not apply is if:

 

  • The person was under 18 when the murder was committed; or
  • The person has significant cognitive impairment.
  • Self-defence.
  • The death was not substantially caused by your actions or omission.
  • The death was not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of what you did or said.
  • The death was not a natural consequence of your conduct.
  • The death was caused by something else that intervened as being the sole cause.
  • You didn’t foresee the probability of death occurring to the victim from your conduct.
  • You had no intention of killing or causing any serious or permanent disfiguring of a person.
  • Mental illness defence: Where you were suffering a mental illness causing you to have no control of your actions, or be unaware of the nature and quality of your actions, or be unaware of the wrongness of your actions.
  • Intoxication: Where you involuntarily consume drugs or alcohol, which causes an absence of intention to kill or cause serious or permanently disfiguring.
  • Automatism: Where an external factor such as medication caused you to involuntarily act in the way you did. i.e. Epileptic fit, sleepwalking, or dissociative state of losing consciousness but acting involuntarily, spasm, reflex etc.
  • Provocation (if established, it can reduce murder to manslaughter).
  • Duress or Necessity: Where you acted in this way to avoid serious harm or as a result of threat or coercion.

Manslaughter

Manslaughter covers an act by the accused which is usually unintentional or accidental and leads to the death of the deceased. Instances where the death of a person may lead to a charge of manslaughter, include:

 

  • Excessive self-defence, as per s 421 of the Crimes Act 1900;
  • Extreme Provocation;
  • Substantial impairment by abnormality of the mind;
  • Unlawful and dangerous act; or
  • Criminal negligence.

The maximum penalty for manslaughter is 25 years imprisonment. Where the manslaughter occurs due to a traffic offence, you may also face an automatic licence disqualification period of 3 years for a first offence or 5 years for a second offence. 

  • Self-defence: You acted in self-defence for yourself or another person.
  • Causation: Your conduct wasn’t the substantial contributor to the death, or the death was caused by an intervening event as the sole cause of death.
  • Mental illness: your mental illness i.e. Schizophrenia, caused you to not know the nature and quality of your actions, or you didn’t know whether it was wrong at the time.
  • Automatism: An external factor causes you to behave involuntarily. i.e. seizures, sleepwalking from medication.
  • Duress or Necessity: you acted to avoid serious harm, or you acted out of threat or coercion.
  • Intoxication: Where you involuntarily consume alcohol or drugs which caused you to be incapable of forming an intention to act in a way the law considers unlawful and dangerous.

Assault Causing Death

Section 25A of the Crimes Act states that it is an offence to assault someone:

 

  • By Intentionally hitting the other person with another part of their body; or
  • With an object held by that person; and
  • The assault causes death.

The deceased must die as a result of direct injuries suffering from the assault.

The maximum penalty for assault causing death is 20 years imprisonment. If you are above 18 and intoxicated during the assault, the maximum penalty is 25 years imprisonment.

  • Intoxication: Where you involuntarily consume alcohol or drugs which caused you to be incapable of forming an intention to act in a way the law considers unlawful and dangerous.
  • Self-defence: You acted in self-defence for yourself or another person.
  • Causation: Your conduct wasn’t the substantial contributor to the death, or the death was caused by an intervening event as the sole cause of death.
  • Mental illness: your mental illness i.e. Schizophrenia, caused you to not know the nature and quality of your actions, or you didn’t know whether it was wrong at the time.
  • Automatism: An external factor causes you to behave involuntarily. i.e. seizures, sleepwalking from medication.
  • Duress or Necessity: you acted to avoid serious harm, or you acted out of threat or coercion.

Conspiracy to murder

Under section 26 of the Crimes Act 1900, it is an offence to plan to murder a person or to participate in planning the murder of someone. Conduct that amounts to conspiracy to murder includes:

 

  • Arranging for someone to murder a person, e.g. hiring a killer to kill someone;
  • Encouraging or persuading someone to murder a person, e.g. asking a friend or family member to kill someone to that you owe money;
  • Planning in the murder of a person, e.g. arranging to provide the weapon that would be used.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit murder is 25 years. This offence also carries a standard non-parole period of 10 years. That is, you must spend a minimum of 10 years in prison, regardless of the sentence you receive.

  • Duress or Necessity: you acted to avoid serious harm, or you acted out of threat or coercion.
  • The factual defence, that is, you did not commit the acts alleged.

Attempts to murder

Attempts to murder are covered by sections 27, 28, and 29 of the Crimes Act 1900, which states that it is an offence to engage in the following conduct with the intention of murdering someone: 

 

  • Administering a poison;
  • Wounding someone;
  • Causing grievously bodily harm;
  • Setting fire to property;
  • Destroys a car or boat;
  • Causing an explosion that causes damage to a building;
  • Placing an object on a railway;
  • Puts someone who is sleeping onto a railway
  • Shots at or attempts to shoot at the person; or
  • Attempts to drown, suffocate or strangle a person.

Section 30 of the Crimes Act 1900 indicates that the list above is non-exhaustive and that there is other conduct that would likely amount to attempted murder.

The maximum penalty for an attempt to murder is 25 years. This offence also carries a standard non-parole period of 10 years. That is, you must spend a minimum of 10 years in prison, regardless of the sentence you receive.

  • Intoxication: Where you involuntarily consume alcohol or drugs which caused you to be incapable of forming an intention to act in a way the law considers unlawful and dangerous.
  • Self-defence: You acted in self-defence for yourself or another person.
  • Causation: Your conduct wasn’t the substantial contributor to the death, or the death was caused by an intervening event as the sole cause of death.
  • Mental illness: your mental illness, i.e. Schizophrenia, caused you to not know the nature and quality of your actions, or you didn’t know whether it was wrong at the time.
  • Automatism: An external factor causes you to behave involuntarily. i.e. seizures, sleepwalking from medication.
  • Duress or Necessity: you acted to avoid serious harm, or you acted out of threat or coercion.

If the police have charged you or a loved one, you must attend court. Appearing in court for a criminal charge is usually daunting. Let us help you make the process easier. Here are 10 reasons to choose our team of criminal lawyers from Lyons Law Group;

 

Result-focused criminal lawyers 

 

Our team will work to achieve the best result for you in the shortest time possible. However, we do aim to provide quality over quantity service to you. Our criminal lawyers appear in all criminal and traffic matters, including trials, sentencing, bail applications, and apprehended violence orders. We are a result-focused firm of lawyers.

At Lyons Law, we do not make any unrealistic promises for results. You will be advised on the most realistic results achievable in your case, including acquittals of all charges against you. Nevertheless, you can be sure that our team will work extremely hard to achieve the best possible outcome for you.

 

Proven Track Record

 

Our experienced defence lawyers are passionate about representing their clients and achieving the best outcome. Lyons Law is a team of solicitors who are dedicated, and with our support staff, you can be confident of the highest quality of legal representation. We have an exceptional track record of results. We provide our outstanding client service at an affordable rate for our clients.

 

Fixed Fees

 

We always let our clients know how much their cases will cost from the beginning. This makes it easier for them to decide whether or not they want to proceed with the case. Not only do we offer fixed fees for many types of criminal cases and services, but also free first phone consultations. In addition, our firm offers fixed fees applicable to a wide range of Local Court cases such as drink driving, fraud, drug possession, assault, and AVOs.

 

Free First Conference

 

For all of those individuals who are going to court, we offer a free first 15-minute phone conference with one of our senior criminal defence lawyer. It is best you email our office all your relevant documents before a conference so criminal lawyers can provide the best advice within that time frame.

 

Highly experienced criminal defence lawyer

 

Lyons Law Group is a highly experienced team of criminal lawyers. Our team is led by Mohammad Khan, who is one of the best criminal lawyers in Sydney. He has represented clients in some of Australia’s most high-profile cases and was under the direct tutelage of Australia’s leading criminal lawyer Adam Houda.

 

Moreover, our team has worked and successfully represented clients on highly complex trials and sentences in NSW.

 

Work closely with Australia’s leading criminal law barrister

 

We work closely with some of Australia’s leading criminal law barristers. Barristers are usually instructed in more serious matters, and their experience and input can be invaluable to your case. The barristers we regularly instruct range from Queen’s counsels, Senior counsels and highly experienced junior-senior counsels.

 

Specialist for District and Supreme Court trials

 

Our team of sydney criminal lawyers have worked on numerous District and Supreme Court trials in NSW. We have worked on extremely complex criminal law trials that require impeccable preparation and understanding of the law.

 

Specialist for bail applications in NSW

 

Lyons Law Group is a highly experienced team of bail lawyers. We have regularly obtained bail for clients for extremely serious charges that carry life sentences. For types of charges, bail is usually denied by a Court.

 

In house Experts

 

Our criminal lawyers have in-house investigators with decades of law enforcement experience and assist our team with process service, background checks, integrity testing, investigations, surveillance, and bug detection.

 

For the preparation of jury trials and defended hearings, these services can be utilised on behalf of our client to achieve the best result.

 

Appearance at all Courts in NSW

 

From Broken Hill to Waverly, our criminal lawyers appear in all courts throughout New South Wales.

 

If you wish to contact us or book your first free 15-minute phone conference, contact us on 0404479096 or send us an email at info@lyonslaw.com.au.

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