A plea of guilty does not of itself result in a conviction; conviction requires some unequivocal and overt expression of acceptance by the court. Where the Crown refuses to accept a guilty plea to an alternative count in full discharge of the indictment and the court has not accepted the plea, the Crown may proceed to trial on the principal count. The preferred practice is to allow the trial on both counts to proceed with appropriate directions to the jury. Trial judges should not raise joinder objections on their own motion and should exercise extreme caution before intervening in prosecution decisions.
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