A mistake in sentencing?
1. Stocks was charged with three charges of negligently causing serious injury, and two summary offences associated with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. He pleaded guilty at the first possible opportunity.
2. As well as appealing his sentence, Stocks could have appealed the outcome of his trial. However, in such a case, he would have had to show that exceptional circumstances existed before being granted leave to appeal.
3. Stocks was sentenced to a term of imprisonment for each of the five offences.
4. Stocks appealed his sentence for the summary offences. He argued that the judge had made a mistake in sentencing him to imprisonment, because the maximum penalty for these offences was a fine.
5. The Court of Appeal allowed Stocks’s appeal and imposed a new sentence of a fine totalling $400.