Chuck, 3 things.
As with most Western countries the case would be played out in the media so the weight of public opinion would be on the judge. The victim, in this instance the criminal, would be made out as some hard done by, neglected as a child, poor soul, suffering from depression, wah, wah, wah, hard done by, hard done by. Who, was out on parole for exactly the same crime! The home owner, upright citizen, family man, terrified for his family.
Yes he would plead, or be found guilty, but would get parole.
In my state, Queensland, there is an offender levy. It is only paid if you plead guilty, or, are found guilty. It is not always imposed on the guilty and in lower courts costs about $140 up to $380 in the higher courts. There are legal aid service that are free if you can't fund your own defence.
The NZ lockdown is because they have no social transmission but don't know where it came from. Here in Brisbane we have cases coming up all the time but they are in quarantine hotels and they know where the people have come from and can track back from there.
We are different from you guys as we have no social transmission of Covid at all. We know where it came from and can isolate it. A few weeks ago we had a strain appear of the UK version and we went back to a partial lockdown for 72 hours. No further transmissions and boom back to business as usual.
Jim, love the analogy.
All the best guys
Ps. Sorry to hi Jack the thread guys.