Resolving the Issue of Exemption from Criminal Liability on Alternative Grounds in the Court of Appeal

Abstract

A court of appeal has the right to dismiss a criminal case (criminal prosecution) and exempt the person from criminal liability. The legislator has not taken into account the peculiarities of applying alternative grounds for exemption from criminal liability, which are based on the possibility of assessing the positive post-criminal behavior of persons subject to criminal prosecution. The possibility of a court of appeal to overturn a conviction that has not entered into legal force, dismiss a criminal case and exempt a person from criminal liability on alternative grounds is influenced by a number of legally significant circumstances. These are as follows: the imperative or discretionary basis is subject to application; whether the court of appeal considers the issue of exemption from criminal liability for the first time or not; whether the appeal has established significant violations of the law that entail the reversal of the conviction. Courts of second instance should not ignore the discretionary nature that predetermines the special legal nature of the remaining alternative grounds. If the grounds for overturning a conviction are established, the court of second instance is entitled to consider the issue of exemption from criminal liability on alternative discretionary grounds; by contrast, in the absence of such grounds, the appellate court does not have the right to overestimate the circumstances of the criminal case. If the issue of exemption from criminal liability is first raised at the stage of appealing against a guilty verdict that has not entered into legal force, the courts need to find out the reasons why this issue was not resolved during the consideration of the criminal case by the court of first instance.