Della Franca v WA

[2026] WASCA 17

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Murder
4. › Minimum period of imprisonment
5. › Whether minimum period of 20 years manifestly excessive
6. › Whether minimum period destroyed reasonable possibility of productive life after release
7. › Criminal Code (WA), s 279
8. › Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), s 90
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Procedural fairness
4. › Reliance on unidentified first instance sentencing decisions
5. › Whether sentencing judge obliged to give notice of first instance decisions relied upon
6. › Whether denial of procedural fairness
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Mitigating factors
4. › Pre-plea admissions and cooperation
5. › Whether failure to give separate mitigatory weight to formal admissions and willingness to facilitate course of justice prior to plea of guilty constituted error

Quick Take

Pre-plea admissions and cooperation may be subsumed within the plea of guilty discount and need not receive separate mitigatory weight, and sentencing judges are not obliged to identify first instance decisions drawn from their experience.