Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers

Drug trafficking & drug possession charges WITHDRAWN!

Our tradie client had a dangerous motor vehicle collision where he collided and wrote off a number of parked vehicles in a suburban street. Police & emergency services attended the scene. Police breath tested him and searched his vehicle and located approximately 20 snap lock bags of co***ne in his car together with scales, hundreds of empty snap lock bags, drug sale ledgers known as tick lists, thousands of dollars in cash & other drug paraphernalia.

He was charged with trafficking in co***ne, possession of co***ne, possession of proceeds of crime and dangerous driving.

He was convinced that he was going to be imprisoned because he was caught red handed. He was worried about loosing his driver license which is his livelihood.

He approached our highly experienced team of criminal lawyers who put a plan of attack in place. He walked away relieved & far less stressed knowing that our team was behind him. We promptly requested all relevant disclosure material and evidence held by police. We read the material thoroughly.

We commenced negotiations with the prosecution well in advance of the court hearing & made legal submissions that the search of the vehicle was unlawful.

Police acceded to our submissions & all drug trafficking charges drug possession charges were withdrawn prior to court.

He walked away with a fine without conviction for careless driving. He kept his driver license. He was elated!

Family violence intervention order IVO DISMISSED. Our male client & his partner visited Crown casino in Melbourne. He was on holiday from Queensland. They had an argument & police observed him striking his partner 3 times. Police arrested him & took out a family violence intervention IVO against him. He sought advice from other criminal lawyers who advised him that there was no hope of resisting a police interim IVO application in court. They advised him to consent to the order. He then engaged our team of criminal lawyers and instructed us to appear on his behalf and to vigorously resist the interim IVO application, despite the fact that Family violence applications made by Police are invariably granted by the courts, particularly when the allegations are witnessed by police. Following substantial preparation, Mr Balot appeared on the client’s behalf & made persuasive legal submissions to the court and achieved an outstanding result. The request by Victoria Police for an interim IVO was rejected by the Magistrate. Several months later Mr Balot appeared at the final IVO hearing and had the police application dismissed. Thus, allowing our client to be free of the constraints of an IVO & crucially maintain his working with children certification. Don’t take no for an answer and obtain a second opinion before you consent to family violence intervention orders & be estranged from your loved ones. We believe that where there is a will there is a way

Client avoids mandatory 4 years licence suspension for REFUSING EVIDENTIARY BREATH TEST!

Pleading guilty is easy. Anyone can do it. Successfully contesting a drink driving offence is reserved for experts in contesting drink driving charges.

Our client was intercepted by police driving his vehicle into his driveway. He was bleeding after being physically assaulted in a party earlier.

Police conducted a preliminary breath test which was positive. He was transported in a divisional van to the Mildura Police station. He requested medical attention. Police advised him that they would do so after an evidentiary breath test. He repeated his request & refused to undergo the test. Police charged him with refusing an evidentiary breath test.

His brother, a high profile lawyer, previously engaged a criminal lawyer who advised him to plead guilty & receive 4 years minimum licence loss. Our client found us on google & engaged us.

Police didn’t disclose any information about his assault. Mr Balot our most experienced drink driving lawyer issued a comprehensive evidential disclosure request which was met with resistance. He insisted and obtained court orders compelling police to disclose it.

Mr Balot received it and found the corroborating evidence that he needed. He held a case conference with prosecutions & made legal submissions.

The prosecution withdrew all charges and our client was let off; no fine, no driver licence suspension, no record & no interlock!

Police DROP SEXUAL PE*******ON & SEXUAL ASSAULT investigation against our client!

The complainant dated our client for one night & during intimacy he revealed that he was married. She reported him to the police for an unlawful s*xual pe*******on and s*xual assault without her consent. He was facing a substantial term of imprisonment & the end of his marriage.

He was overwhelmed when police called him for an interview. Fortunately, he engaged our highly experienced criminal lawyers for s*xual offences prior to the police interview. Our criminal lawyers not only advised him of a police interview strategy, but also attended with him to ensure that it was well executed. The police attempted to coerce him to discuss the case, however he did not depart from our legal advice.

The police interview was a success. After the interview, our criminal lawyers took an ACTIVE rather than passive approach. Our criminal lawyers investigated the case thoroughly & found latent discrepancies in the complainant’s statement & made legal submissions about there not being a reasonable likelihood of conviction. Our client wanted to leave the country, but our principal criminal lawyer dissuaded him from doing so and fought the case head on.

This week, the police acceded to our legal submissions & dropped the police investigation into our client and did not charge him.

Our criminal lawyers are the best criminal lawyers in Melbourne for s*xual assault investigations and s*xual assault charges.

Our client WINS POLICE INTERVENTION ORDER IVO against him before hearing! Our client WINS CROSS IVO against the protected person!

Our client was harassed & threatened by a school parent from his children’s school. Further, he applied for an intervention order against our client. He also reported a breach of the order to the police. The police investigated a breach of IVO.

Infuriated, our client sought our criminal lawyers for advice & representation in court. Our principal criminal lawyer Mr Balot promptly advised him to make an IVO cross application against the protected person.

After 3 decades of experience our criminal lawyer sensed the complainant’s malice and dishonesty. Our team spent time and relentless effort to discredit the protected person’s veracity.

Our effort came to fruition when we obtained a valuable tool - a subpoena for his medical clinic regarding his fraudulent medical certificate. That medical certificate was previously used by him to justify his failure to appear in court.

The clinic was forced to admit that they did not issue the fraudulent medical certificate. The prosecution, now realising that the complainant was completely unreliable and untruthful, withdrew the IVO and ceased their investigation.

In fact, the protected person is now under investigation for perverting the course of justice and has an IVO against him. Were it not for Mr Balot’s advice, our client would have had to pay for a lengthy contested hearing to prove his innocence.

SEXUAL PE*******ON CHARGES WITHDRAWN BY POLICE! ALL 19 CRIMINAL CHARGES WITHDRAWN in s*xual assault case!

In December 2023, our 23 year old client was charged with Sexual Pe*******on Charges, Child Abuse Material Charges, Assault Charges at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

He was accused of engaging in s*xual in*******se with an underage female, which he filmed on his phone, in her school uniform.

Our client was terrified to be imprisoned for many years. He then engaged one of the best criminal lawyers in Melbourne, namely Mr Balot who is our most experienced criminal lawyer to skilfully and vigorously defend him.

Mr Balot appeared in court and demanded all the evidence. When the prosecution produced it, Mr Balot sensed through 3 decades of experience that the prosecution did not provide all of the evidence, presumably because they overlooked it or were reluctant to disclose it. He demanded further evidence from the prosecution and when it was released, it turned out to be exculpatory in that the complainant lied about her age.

Our most senior criminal lawyer skilfully and vigorously negotiated with the prosecution to have all charges withdrawn despite the existence of video evidence depicting s*xual in*******se. Mr Balot leaves no stone unturned and, had he not asked for the additional material, the client may have been convicted and imprisoned.

Our client indicated he is now in gainful employment. Our best criminal lawyer in Melbourne vindicated him!

Police WITHDRAW ALL CRIMINAL CHARGES, E-Scooter speeding charges, drug driving charges, evade police charges arising from 2 SEPARATE INCIDENTS.

In December 2023, our client was charged with the following:
- Drug Driving Charges x1
- Evade Police Charges x2
- Speeding Charges x1
- Unlicensed and Unregistered Driving Charges x4
- Not Wearing Helmet Charges x2

Our client instructed that he had been pushed off his E-Scooter by an overzealous police officer in the second incident, because police detected his speed 58km/h in a 40km/h zone using a Prolaser 4 speed detector. As a result of the push by police, our client suffered physical injuries from the fall.

Our client was taken to hospital and a sample of his blood was taken from him and subsequently it was found to contain an illicit drug, namely cannabis, as confirmed by a toxicologist from Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Our client was advised to plead guilty by his former criminal lawyer, who did not have the courage, nor the criminal law experience and legal acumen to dismantle the prosecution case.

Our client refused to take no for an answer.

Police alleged that on the first occasion, he rode his E-Scooter in excessive speed and evaded police. Our client was slapped with in excess of 10 criminal and traffic charges. He was overwhelmed with the prospect of being imprisoned or a large fine, a substantial mandatory loss of license and a criminal record. He engaged our principal criminal lawyer, Mr Balot, who is an expert in defending criminal charges and road traffic charges.

Our client placed his full trust in our most experienced criminal lawyer Mr Balot. We immediately demanded from police to provide us with body-worn camera footage (BWC) of all attending police officers in accordance with their disclosure obligations, to show that our client was pushed off his E-Scooter.

The police officer was reluctant to hand over the evidence. However, we maintained our request, and after a number of written requests and pressure by the prosecution, he finally capitulated and provided the footage which appeared to depict our client being pushed off his E-Scooter onto oncoming traffic. His reason for pushing our client was that he evaded police on the first incident.

Mr Balot seized this opportunity to place further pressure on the prosecution to withdraw all charges for this reason and other reasons. Mr Balot used his highly experienced negotiation skills and knowledge of criminal law and the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) to persuade the prosecution to withdraw all criminal charges and road traffic charges. His forceful legal submissions ultimately succeeded EVEN BEFORE COURT with our client WALKING FREE OF ALL CHARGES last month.

NO FINE, NO DISQUALIFICATION AND NO RECORD!

Mr Balot’s intricate knowledge of the law and his wealth of criminal law and road traffic experience enabled him to provide our client the best possible outcome!

FOR THE BEST CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYERS IN MELBOURNE, look no further than Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers – our experience and attention to detail puts us in a league of our own.

BAIL AND REHABILITATION UPDATE

Re Tracki [2022] VSC 530: The Supreme Court has recently granted bail on appeal to a man charged with multiple drugs possession and trafficking, fi****ms, dishonestly and proceeds of crime offences. He had also breached bail. And was described by the Court as having an extensive and concerning criminal history.

Notwithstanding his predicament, the Court was satisfied that exceptional circumstances existed which justified the grant of bail in his case: he had strong family support, his family offered a surety, there would likely be significant delay in the court process, and crucially, he had been accepted into a residential rehabilitation facility and would reside there while on bail. Notably, the prosecution case was not weak.

At paragraph 31 of the decision Associate Justice Niall remarked:

“…The opportunity for residential rehabilitation is particularly important in my overall assessment of determining that exceptional circumstances exist. It may increase or provide important material that may be relevant to the range of dispositions that may be available to the applicant should he be found guilty of the charges he is facing. Further, the community has an interest in providing the applicant with an opportunity to overcome his drug addiction which has been a significant factor in his lamentable criminal history…”

The prosecution submission that he was an unacceptable risk to the community given his criminal history was not accepted in view of his renewed commitment to drug rehabilitation.

However, there is no guarantee that an accused will be granted bail even if they propose to go to rehab as a condition of bail. In Re Desic [2022] VSC 537 at paragraph 59, another recent Supreme Court decision on bail, Justice Lasry refused bail and said of the accused:

“…the residential rehabilitation program is aimed at assisting him with his personal addiction to methylamphetamine and has almost nothing to do with the business venture that he entered into to import a very large amount of that drug into Australia…”

If a loved one or a close friend has been arrested or remanded to custody, get in contact with Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers immediately. Bail applications are hard, and it is important that you engage lawyers who know the law on bail, have experience in successfully getting bail for their clients and who will work tirelessly to secure their clients freedom and set them on a path of rehabilitation.

NSW RULES OUT REVENUE RAISING SPEED CAMERAS

We are told that speed cameras save lives: the theory is that when we see them, they remind us to slow down. But too often we never see them: as they are placed at the top of steep hills or around sharp corners, nested behind trees and bushes or sneakily wedged between other vehicles. Is it any wonder that the public suspect the government is more interested in raising revenue as opposed to keeping the roads safe?

NSW has recently taken a step in the right direction by creating strict new rules which prohibit police and speed camera operators from hiding speed cameras. And mobile speed camera vehicles will now need to display a warning sign. Victoria is lagging behind. We implore the Victorian Government to follow NSW and ban secret speed cameras for good.

If you have been fined or charged with a traffic offence, contact Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers today.

DRINK DRIVING CASES CAN BE WON. DRINK DRIVER BAC 0.211 MULTIPLE CHARGES &
DRINK DRIVING PRIORS; CHARGES WITHDRAWN

Our client, a 32-year-old women from Roxburgh Park, had crashed into a traffic pole at a busy intersection in Footscray, her vehicle had significant damage in the presence of several witnesses. Her driver licence was suspended at the time for drink driving offences. She had decamped the scene without exchanging details & when police arrived & found her a few meters away she denied the accident, provided a false name and address & recorded an evidentiary breath test result of .211 BAC(4 times over) whilst being recorded on police body worn camera.

Police charged her with multiple drink driving offences including being so intoxicated as to being incapable of operating a car, driving whilst suspended & offences relating to her failure to exchange details at the scene of an accident & giving police a false name. She had committed recent drink driving offences, for which her licence was still suspended. She was facing mandatory 4 years licence loss & likely jail time. She been advised by previous lawyers to plead guilty. She engaged Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers, Australia's leading criminal & drink driving lawyers Melbourne.

George Balot, with 20+years of experience defending drink driving cases found a technical breach & following robust negotiations with the prosecution all charges were withdrawn & she got to keep her driver licence & her livelihood.

The 3 advantages of hiring the best Australian criminal lawyer for your criminal charges.
Being investigated or charged with a criminal offence are serious matters that require the right criminal defence lawyer to defend you urgently. The longer you wait to retain the best criminal defence lawyer, the more likely you are to prejudice your criminal defence strategy in respect to your criminal charges or to achieve the best most merciful sentence in court.

It’s vital to retain a highly competent criminal lawyer that has ample experience in criminal law and a very competent one. A criminal defense lawyer who is well-versed in Victorian criminal laws and Australian criminal laws will help you to defend your criminal charges and offer you legal protection against any incriminating police investigations and prosecution in Victoria & throughout Australia. Here are some benefits associated with hiring a criminal lawyer from Melbourne:

1. A highly experienced criminal lawyer will defend your interests against criminal prosecutions. The reality is that prosecutors invariably try to make you accept the most serious criminal charges. Prosecutors are constantly seeking to minimise the total number of alleged offenders or criminals in each community to ensure what they perceive to be a safer place for them. As a result, they focus more on making statistical changes rather than your well being. But your criminal defense lawyer’s job is to advocate on your behalf alone during your criminal trial. Their duty is to protect your legal rights and to speak out in your interest. Experienced Melbourne criminal lawyers( please do a link to our website) invest time and effort to understand the charges made against you, assess your situation carefully and put a plan of attack that will result in reduced charges or an acquittal of the criminal

Our criminal defence lawyers have up to 20 years of experience in all areas criminal law and are eager to apply this knowledge and experience to provide sound legal advice in every matter we attend to, no matter how big or small.

Criminal law matters and issues can arise at any time of the day or night regardless of the day of the week. Our criminal defence lawyers in Melbourne ensure to remain on-call and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that we can provide sound legal advice and legal representation at any time day or night, business day or weekend/holiday.

In line with the Victorian Government’s announcement stage 4 restrictions, our criminal lawyers in Melbourne will now extend the Covid 19 special assistance for access to criminal law legal advice to all Victorians affected by stage 4 restrictions.

Our criminal lawyers will assist all clients affected by Covid 19 restricted areas with reduced rates through online appointments & provide the best criminal law advice via video conferencing on google, zoom, Skype, Webbex etc.

Balot Reilly criminal lawyers Melbourne team are committed to assist with professional, confidential and highly secure criminal law legal advice and criminal law legal representation.

Our criminal lawyers from our Melbourne office are committed to helping clients with defending all criminal law charges and in many cases avoid a criminal record. Our criminal lawyers will also assist in applying and defending intervention orders IVOs at the Magistrates Court, defending intervention order IVO breaches, defending road traffic law charges and road traffic penalty infringements notices.

Our criminal lawyers will also help with defending criminal Charges in the Children’s Court. Our best criminal lawyers in Melbourne can apply for bail for clients in custody on serious criminal charges especially during Covid 19. The current restrictions & the consequential delays in listing criminal trials is often a good reason together with other reasons for Magistrates to release remanded clients on bail

LANDMARK RULING | PERSONALITY DISORDERS CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A MITIGATING FACTOR IN COURT

A landmark decision by Victoria's Court of Appeal, the highest court in the state means that personality disorders can be considered as a mitigating factor. This is an important decision, especially in the Victorian criminal law landscape. It means that judges and magistrates can reduce an individual's moral culpability if they have been diagnosed with a personality disorder, just like evidence of a mental illness can reduce an offender's moral culpability. 

The court of appeal ruled: "An offender diagnosed with a personality disorder should be treated as in no different position from any other offender who seeks to rely on an impairment of mental functioning as mitigating sentence in one or other of the ways identified in Verdins...Whether and to what extent the offender's mental functioning is (or was) relevantly impaired should be determined on the basis of expert evidence rigorously scutisined by the sentencing court." 

To read more about this case: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/landmark-ruling-lgives-judges-power-to-consider-personality-disorders-20200825-p55p7n.html

Our criminal law is always evolving. Our most experienced criminal defence lawyers at Balot Reilly promise to keep up to date with all important criminal law decisions in order to provide quality legal advice. 

If you have been charged or investigated for a criminal offence, our best criminal defence lawyers are here to help!  We know that criminal law matters can arise at any time during the day or night, 7 days a week and therefore our team wants to ensure that we can support you and help to alleviate your concerns whenever the need arises. You can contact us 24/7

NEW SPEED CAMERAS MAY BE FAULTY

Traffic Lawyers | Speeding Infringements 

Our best traffic lawyers at BalotReilly would like to inform motorists across the state of VIctoria that if you have received a speeding infringement notice since December 2019, you may have been fined incorrectly.

Currently, more than 200,000 incidents are under review due to major problems associated with the T-Series mobile cameras. Operators have complained about various technical faults such as software faults, GPS failures and obscured registration plates. In particular, a technical fault known as the "double-doppler" effect records vehicles with long wheel bases such as buses or trucks at faster speeds than they are actually travelling.

An investigation has been launched into the cameras and results of the investigation and recommendations will be handed to the Police Minister in the next four weeks.

To our knowledge, only one infringement has been overturned due to the "double-doppler effect and review is ongoing.

If you feel as though you have been inaccurately fined, you may have grounds to have the infringement overturned.
Our best traffic lawyers in Melbourne are highly trained, highly experienced experts in this field. We  can help to defend you  and fight against any infringement notice you feel has been unfairly or inaccurately issued to you.

Stage 4 Restructions | Victorian Businesses | Worker Permits

The team at BalotReilly Criminal Lawyers would like to keep our fellow Victorians updated and informed during these uncertain times.

Following the recent announcement of stage 4 restrictions in Victoria, harsher restrictions have been implemented surrounding Victorian businesses. Worker permits are now compulsory for all workers who are permitted to work on-site. Information about permitted work sites operating under Victoria's stage 4 restrictions can be found here: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/business-industry-stage-4-restrictions-covid-19

Businesses caught issuing permits to workers who do not meet the requirements face fines up to $99,123, while individuals can be fined up to $19,826.

Our best criminal lawyers in Melbourne from BalotReilly Criminal Lawyers can help to defend you if you have been issued with an infringement notice for breach of the criminal law in Melbourne or Mitchell Shire in breach of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 state of emergency declarations. Our criminal lawyers in Melbourne will fight for your justice. In the meantime stay safe and abide by all lawful directions during these unprecedented times

COVID-19 UPDATE:
BalotReilly Criminal lawyers Melbourne | Stage 4

The team at Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers would like to keep Victorians updated in these uncertain times. Our best criminal lawyers inform that the Victorian government has now, for the first time in history declared a state of disaster which will give the police additional powers to enforce lockdowns. 

The new COVID-19 restrictions in Victoria include: a curfew from 8pm to 5am every day for the next six weeks, only one person per household can shop for essentials per day, people cannot travel more than 5km from their house, exercise is limited to one hour a day and capped at two people, schools will retrun to remote and flexible learning, public transport reduced/ suspended during curfew hours, face coverings will be compulsory, weddings from Wednesday 5th at 11:59 will not be allowed in Melbourne. Regional Vic will move to stage 3 restrictions.

Our best criminal lawyers in Melbourne from BalotReilly Criminal Lawyers can help to defend you if you have been issued with an infringement notice for breach of the criminal law in Melbourne or Mitchell Shire in breach of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 state of emergency declarations. Our criminal lawyers in Melbourne will fight for your justice. In the meantime stay safe and abide by all lawful directions during these unprecedented times

DISCUSSION :

Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers | Criminal Law | Age of Criminal Responsibility

The nation's lawmakers are set to consider whether the age of criminal responsibility should be increased from 10 to 14. This means that anyone under the age of 14 will not be able to be found guilty of any offence.

At the moment, Australia's minimum is 10 which is lower than the international average of 14. However, increasing this age would mean that people ages 13 who have committed horrific crimes walk away from any criminal responsibility.

Should Australia increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Read the Article Here
https://www.theage.com.au/national/life-changing-impacts-nation-s-lawmakers-urged-to-change-age-of-criminal-responsibility-from-10-to-14-20200726-p55fig.html

Lawmakers urged to increase age of criminal responsibility The Council of Attorneys-General will consider a raft of policy changes, such as raising the age of criminal responsibility.

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'Balotreilly criminal lawyers in Melbourne are the best criminal defence lawyers who are experts in ALL CRIMINAL CHARGES,TRAFFIC OFFENCES, INTERVENTION ORDERS IVOs, Victorian criminal charges, Federal criminal charges,NSW criminal charges, WA criminal charges, Queensland criminal charges, SA criminal charges, Tasmanian criminal charges and NT criminal charges. George Balot has extensive experience as a seasoned Melbourne criminal lawyer. He has been in criminal law since the 1990s. His unparalleled advocacy skills along with his tenacity both in and out of court provides clients with the confidence they need to guarantee a strong criminal law defense. Mr Balot is voted the best criminal lawyer in an area of criminal law on threebestrated Aus'

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Keep up to date with COVID

Our best criminal lawyers in Melbourne of Balotreilly Criminal Lawyers promised to update you on the Coronavirus laws.

Physical attendance in the Supreme Court of Victoria remains limited.
Following the Directions from the Chief Health Officer from 11:59pm Wednesday 22 July, masks or face coverings are mandatory unless exemptions apply.
Read how this Direction will apply to physical attendances in the Supreme Court.

https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/news/the-latest-directions-from-the-chief-health-officer

The latest Directions from the Chief Health Officer | The Supreme Court of Victoria Physical attendance at the Supreme Court of Victoria remains limited to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19. Those who are required to attend physically the following information is provided.

DISCUSSION:

The Law Institute of Australia supports Amnesty Australia on face masks. Read their article here: https://www.liv.asn.au/getattachment/Staying-Informed/General-News/General-News/July-2020/LIV-supports-Amnesty-Australia-on-face-masks/20200722_LP_ALHR-Article_FaceCoverings-v02.pdf.aspx

Let us know what you think about masks! Leave a comment

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