FF Justice Spokesperson's letter to sentencing Judge in ongoing case.

littlemac1980

FF Spokesperson Niall Collins sent a letter to the sentencing Judge regarding the sentencing of a convicted drug dealer.

http://www.thejournal.ie/niall-collins-letter-1526204-Jun2014/

His statement included (as reported on the above link):

"To be very clear I wrote the letter outlining the exceptional circumstances of this family as the four children lost their mother through suicide earlier this year and I truly believed that the Judge should be made aware of these tragic circumstances so that they could be taken into consideration when sentencing. My decision was based solely on compassion and concern for the four children."

While I understand we ourselves have to be careful to avoid commenting on the ongoing case, we can comment (I believe) on the actions of the FF spokesperson - Niall Collins.

Surely this is an absurd thing to do in the circumstances, were if he was genuinely concerned that the Judge should be made aware of the circumstances - the only correct way to go about it would be to ensure that the convicted man's solicitor was made aware of the situation.

I can find it hard to imagine there are any circumstances where this type of action is permissible, or am I missing something?

littlemac1980

By way of further update - the independent are reporting that the Letter was handed to the Judge by the convicted man's solicitor:

The relevant article is here:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/ff-justice-spokesman-says-he-intervened-on-criminals-behalf-because-of-tragic-family-circumstances-30368071.html

That certainly changes the context of the Judge being made aware of the situation - a significant omission from the Journal article.

schemingbohemia

As you said, the drug dealer's solicitor would obviously have known this and used it in mitigation. So the only possible reason for Niall Collins to send the letter was that he thought his influence would be stronger than the solicitor so obviously was using his position as Justice spokesman. He should be fired immediately or resign, neither will happen.

Claw Hammer

schemingbohemia wrote: »

As you said, the drug dealer's solicitor would obviously have known this and used it in mitigation. So the only possible reason for Niall Collins to send the letter was that he thought his influence would be stronger than the solicitor so obviously was using his position as Justice spokesman. He should be fired immediately or resign, neither will happen.

The solicitor can't give evidence when acting as an advocate prior to sentencing. It is routine for people to hand in letters for persons of standing in the community before sentencing. Managers of sports club and priests often write letters. Once it is done in open court and everyone sees it being done there is no harm in it. The real problem is when people try to talk to judges privately about cases.

gozunda

Claw Hammer wrote: »

...Managers of sports club and priests often write letters. ...

Hmmmmm parish pump style pressure - throw in the Bank manager, the school teacher and the local councillor and we have a full quorum of dubious influence.

Similar issues have caused significant damage to other political careers including Trevor Sargent in 2010 and Bobby Malloy in 2002.

A check through local authority files will show any amount of 'letter writing' for various purposes - none of which should ever be allowed to even be accepted in a supposedly open and fair system.

Claw Hammer

gozunda wrote: »

Hmmmmm parish pump style pressure - throw in the Bank manager, the school teacher and the local councillor and we have a full quorum of dubious influence.

Similar issues have caused significant damage to other political careers including Trevor Sargent in 2010 and Bobby Malloy in 2002.

A check through local authority files will show any amount of 'letter writing' for various purposes - none of which should ever be allowed to even be accepted in a supposedly open and fair system.

There is nothing wrong with the judge getting information about a defendant. A sentence has to take account of the personal circumstances of the defendant. If the judge has any doubt about anything he is told he will ask the prosecuting guards to check it out. There will also be a probation report ordered.
This case is nothing like the Molloy and Sargent cases. In those case the representation were made privately. The Collins letter was handed in in open court and everbody could see and hear what was being said. All that was asked was that some factors be taken into account.