Motion for new trial in American criminal procedure & proposition to improve Vietnamese law on request for reopening procedure

Abstract

The right to request a new trial is considered as a privilege for the defendants (accused in criminal case) under U.S. law and was introduced for the first time in the Judiciary Act of 1789. Accordingly, newly discovered evidence is one of many grounds for new trial in criminal cases. Evidence to be considered as newly discovered must meet specific requirements by the U.S. courts, often referred to as the “Berry rule” or “Berry test” because of an 1851 decision in Berry v. The State of Georgia. This study will, thus, clarify and analyse fundamental understandings and rules regarding new trial and motion for new trial under the U.S. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, particularly on the procedure subjects, grounds, time limitation and others. The goal is to identify similarities between the procedure of new trial (motion for new trial) under U.S. law and Vietnamese criminal procedural law on reopening (or retrial), to finally and potentially point out suggestions to improve Vietnamese law on such matter in order to fulfiliing the requirement of establishing rule of law.