The experience or seniority of a sentencing judge is irrelevant to determining on appeal whether a guilty plea was properly taken into account. The Drug Court context, where guilty pleas are a precondition to jurisdiction, does not relieve the sentencing judge of the obligation to refer to the plea and the discount in sentencing remarks. On resentence following an appeal under s 5AA of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), the power to admit evidence operates similarly to appeals under s 5(1), and the establishment of error does not relieve a party of the forensic choices made at first instance.
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