The maximum discount for the utilitarian value of a guilty plea should generally be awarded only to those who plead guilty in the Local Court; a plea on arraignment in the District Court cannot usually justify more than about 15 per cent. Regional court practices for trial management cannot found sentencing discounts inconsistent with the general law. When sentencing for motor vehicle manslaughter, the court must take into account the statutory hierarchy of driving offences and that manslaughter stands at the pinnacle of that structure. A Crown appeal may be dismissed in the exercise of discretion where the Crown's failure to appeal a co-offender's sentence would result in unjustifiable disparity.
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