Who is entitled to apply for a retrial, and what condition does the provision attach to a relative's application?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file, we read the judgment or the record of conviction to identify who was convicted, the paper showing the applicant's own capacity — the prosecutor's office, or the appointment or proof of status of the convicted person's legal representative — and, for a relative's application, a death certificate or medical proof of a mental or physical disability, with a paper showing the marriage or family relationship.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the list as it stands: a prosecutor, the person convicted of an offence, that person's legal representative, and, where the convicted person has died or has a mental or physical disability, that person's spouse, lineal relative or sibling may apply for a retrial.
Another reading notes that the condition is written into only one item: the legal representative may apply without any condition stated, while a spouse, lineal relative or sibling may apply only where the convicted person has died or has a mental or physical disability, so the file must show which of those two states existed before a relative's application rests on the provision.
Your judgment
Where the convicted person is alive with a mental or physical disability and also has a legal representative, what in the file shows which capacity the applicant relies on?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the categories of applicant or the condition attached to a relative's application, or if a court decision explains how the legal representative's and the relatives' entitlements operate together.