Adjournments sound procedural, but they can decide outcomes. In this episode, Clive and Colin unpack when adjournments should (and shouldn’t) be granted, how to prepare and argue them, and the traps that lead to exclusion of evidence, wasted costs, or even acquittals. They also cover special wrinkles: absent defendants, “part-heard” perils, motoring totters/exceptional hardship timing, Newton hearings, and youth/adult severance.
Hosts Clive Smith and Colin Beaumont We start with the culture shift under the Criminal Procedure Rules and Practice Directions: courts are under pressure to hear trials on the day, to protect public confidence and manage backlogs. That doesn’t make adjournments “bad”—just more scrutinised. The duo lay out the Picton/CPD factors, show how to use (or resist) them, and stress giving the bench something useful today (disclosure, witness summonses, narrowing issues). We then explore when courts should adjourn of their own motion even if neither party applies, how late evidence can backfire (exclusion vs. adjourn), and how timing your applications can decide the case.
Adjournments aren’t dirty words—they’re case-outcome tools. The winning approach: prep early, cite the right factors, give the court progress today, and be tactically honest about timing. Misjudge it and you risk exclusion, wasted costs, or worse; judge it well and you protect fairness without feeding delay.
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Chapters
Keywords
adjournment, Criminal Procedure Rules, Practice Directions, Picton factors, section 11 MCA 1980, absent defendant, late disclosure, exclusion of evidence, wasted costs, Boardman, part-heard trials, Newton hearing, exceptional hardship, totting, youth court, severance, case management
