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allows the trial judge to enter findings of guilty and not guilty without the jury giving a verdict when either the accused pleads guilty during the trial, the judge accepts a submission at the close of the prosecution case that there is no case for the accused to answer, or the prosecution decides not to lead evidence on a charge. At any time other than during a trial, a judge may accept a plea of guilty or find the accused not guilty where the prosecution does not lead evidence on a charge. There is currently no legal mechanism for a judge to determine charges in the above situations and instead, the jury is required to give a verdict, even if that verdict is inevitable because the jury is still "in charge" (see, for example, R v Paprounas [1970] VR 865). The process of requiring such verdicts can be unwieldy and confusing for jurors. It can require jurors to be balloted off and then returned to continue the trial in relation to other charges or other accused, under section 48 of the Juries Act 2000. This clause provides a new process in which a trial judge can discharge the jury from delivering a verdict and direct that an entry of "guilty" or "not guilty" be made on the record in any of the following situations—
The accused pleads guilty to a charge on re-arraignment during trial; or
The trial judge decides at the end of the prosecution case that there is no case for the accused to answer; or
The trial judge is advised by the prosecution that the prosecution proposes not to lead evidence on a charge.
Such an entry has the same effect as if the jury had delivered a verdict on the charge.