Wikipedia对“Newton hearing”的解释如下：

“A Newton hearing or inquiry is a legal procedure in English law originating in the early 1980s, used where the two sides offer such conflicting evidence that a judge sitting alone (that is, without a jury) tries to ascertain which party is telling the truth. It is generally used when a defendant pleads guilty to an offence (as in R v Newton itself), but factual issues (relating, for example, to the appropriate sentence) need to be resolved between the prosecution and defence.”

大致意思是，被告认罪，但对于事实性问题控辩双方存在分歧，而这种分歧对于判刑而言具有重大影响，需要召开听证会，由法官（无需陪审团）根据控辩双方提供的证据，确认哪方的说法属实，再进行判刑。这个听证会虽然名称里含有“Newton”，但是与大家熟知的牛顿（Issac Newton）无关，其实是源于“R v Newton”一案。此外，“Newton hearing”对于被告而言是有风险的，由于召开听证会会耗费法庭时间、资源等，若最终法官未认可被告的说法，被告将不会获得刑期扣减。

以新加坡为例，“Newton hearing”可在量刑程序中的任一阶段申请召开，涉及到的事实争议包括但不限于：有关被告实施犯罪之时是否患有精神疾病或精神疾病与犯罪之间是否存在因果关系的医疗报告相互矛盾；有关被告犯罪记录的争议；针对被告减刑陈述中的事实或陈述存在争议。在听证会上，控辩双方均可传召证人，对证人进行质询（包括提供证人一方的律师对该证人进行询问，对方律师对该证人进行询问，本方律师对该证人再次进行询问），最后做结案陈词；法官针对争议事实作出裁决。

例句：

If the accused pleads guilty to an offence but disagrees with the prosecution version of events, the court has to decide on which version to sentence. In order to do this, the court may hold a ‘Newton hearing’. The court will only hold such a hearing if it feels that there would be a substantial difference in sentence if the accused were to be sentenced on the prosecution’s version of events. If there would be no substantial difference to the sentence, the accused is sentenced on his account.

被告人如认罪但不同意控方提出的案情，法庭须决定按被告人或控方的案情来判刑。为此，法庭可进行“牛顿研讯”。假如法庭认为，若根据控方提出的案情判刑，判刑会有很大的差别，法庭才会进行上述聆讯。反之，假如判刑不会有重大差别，法庭则会按被告人所述的情况来判刑。

来源：

Wikipedia；

www.judiciary.gov.sg；

www.doj.gov.hk