If somebody is acquitted of GBH on the grounds of self-defence, but the victim later dies, does the accused have to be retried?

Posted by yourforestlass@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 11 comments

I mean, the death, within the year, is related to the injury sustained in the GBH incident. Would a new charge of murder/manslaughter be brought forward, or would their successful defence for the original charge preclude anything like that (case closed)? (This isn't a situation I'm personally in, just a hypothetical I'm wondering about. Search engines aren't bringing up any useful answers so I thought I'd pick Reddit's brains!)

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11 Comments

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Sepalous@reddit

No, for both GBH and murder, the prosecution must prove that the criminal act _and_ the intent. If either isn't satisfied at the original trial, ignoring double jeopardy, it wouldn't change at the retrial.

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blacksmithMael@reddit

I would look to the Law and Order (1996) act first. It includes provision for proceedings against someone convicted of an offence committed in circumstances connected with the death to be instituted with the permission of the attorney general. This is tricky, as the act adds an additional safeguard on conviction which is absent on acquittal. That said, autrefois acquit arguably provides that safeguard on acquittal, as one would have been acquitted on the unlawful act that resulted in death. Seems unlikely. Do I need to say not a lawyer? Not a lawyer.

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StuartHunt@reddit

You'd get a better response on r/legaladvice

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Evening-Web-3038@reddit

What, from a Yank?

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AmazingPangolin9315@reddit

r/LegalAdviceUK exists

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Evening-Web-3038@reddit

bingo!

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bluejackmovedagain@reddit

It's unlikely. The CPS could decide to pursue a new charge, but there would need to be some very specific circumstances to mean that they thought that it was in the public interest and that there was a reasonable prospect of a conviction. In theory, there could be a situation where the violence was in self defence, but where the person's action/inaction following the immediate incident meant they could be guilty of gross negligence manslaughter if it was found that they owed a duty of care to the deceased. For example, if the deceased was a patient in a care home who had attacked a staff member, the staff member may have reasonably defended themself, but they could then be considered negligent if they didn't report that the patient had been injured and needed medical care.

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jtuk180@reddit

They might try a new charge, but it would be pretty unlikely to be successful, as a) the defence used in question, iirc, is the same for all charges you list b) if they thought there was the mens rea for murder, they likely charge for attempted murder in the first place, so at best they'd be able to try for (constructive) manslaughter

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iffyClyro@reddit

There’s no such thing as GBH in Scotland however there are some similar/equivalent offences and I can say with a fair degree of certainty the answer would be no. If the defence of self defence is accepted then that’s it.

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