In Victoria, the obligation to leave alternative lesser verdicts to the jury, as established for murder/manslaughter in Gilbert v The Queen, does not extend to non-homicide charges. Where the jury has been correctly directed on all elements of the charged offence and neither prosecution nor defence counsel has raised alternative verdicts, the trial judge is not obliged to direct on lesser included offences of his or her own initiative. Defence counsel's tactical decision not to raise alternative verdicts should be given proper weight. The question remains open whether the position might differ if the accused or counsel specifically requests that an alternative verdict be left. On sentencing parity, the practical effect of concurrent sentence orders on co-offenders already serving prison terms for other offences is not a proper basis for comparison with a co-offender not already serving a sentence.
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