Raymond Everest Hessell v The Queen - SC 102/2009

Criminal Appeal – The applicant appeals against sentence and aspects of the sentencing guidelines on discounts for guilty pleas issued by the Court of Appeal. The issues are:  whether the Court of Appeal was right in the circumstances to issue a guideline judgment; if so, whether the guidelines are sufficiently flexible or unduly fetter the courts’ future sentencing discretion; whether a 33% discount to the defendant’s sentence is appropriate for a guilty plea at the “first reasonable opportunity”; whether lesser discounts are appropriate for guilty pleas at subsequent stages of the proceedings; whether an early guilty plea should be considered to be an indicator of remorse on the part of the accused or whether remorse should be assessed on its merits; whether credit should be given for remorse even though not given at “first reasonable opportunity”; whether the guidelines should apply to murder cases; whether guidance should be provided in applying guidelines. [2009] NZCA 450    CA  170/2009 2 October  2009