This is a highly undesirable phenomenon. Compared with civil and administrative cases of second instance, civil and administrative cases of second instance are really difficult to be tried by all members of the collegiate bench of second instance on the premise that the case is unclear. However, in the second instance of most civil and administrative cases, the presiding judge, or at least the assistant of the presiding judge, will organize investigation talks. In fact, the investigation procedure is also a trial procedure. During the investigation, the opinions of both parties and lawyers can be published.
Even in the process of civil retrial review in Tai 'an City, Shandong Province, the review is conducted by means of conversation and summary court procedure. I quite agree with this practice, because only when the trial is held can the presiding judge have the opportunity to hear the voices of the parties and lawyers, and the procedural functions and values of the second instance and retrial can be realized.
However, in criminal cases, generally speaking, there are not many second trials, which seems to be a national phenomenon. I very much hope that the second trial of criminal cases can be heard in court, at least to conduct investigation and talk and fully listen to lawyers' opinions. The second trial of criminal cases is a very important procedure, and lawyers can do a lot in this process; The procedural rights of the parties should also be respected.
Usually, in the stage of criminal second instance, in order to achieve the purpose of effective defense, my routine action is:
First, sort out the problems of illegal and wrong procedures in the trial stage of the court of first instance. Although procedural issues are not taken seriously, they are hard to avoid. Therefore, pointing out the procedural problems existing in the court of first instance to the court of second instance will usually get the attention of the court of second instance.
Second, submit a written application for second instance. For me, this application for hearing is not a formal document, but based on the actual situation of the case, combined with the provisions of the law and judicial interpretation, as far as possible to clarify the necessity of a second-instance hearing in the case, usually a simplified version of the defense opinion.
Third, consider witnesses appearing in court. Based on some factual problems, lawyers naturally have the right to apply for witnesses to testify in court. It is up to the court to decide whether to listen or not, and most of these applications will not be approved by the court. However, by filing various applications, the defense lawyer is actually telling the responsible judge that there are problems in some places and trying to attract the attention of the judge in charge of the second instance.
Fourth, draft detailed pre-trial defense opinions.
..... In fact, there are many things that can be done. ...
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