Author Archives: andrew

Sue Neill-Fraser Support Group – a profile of persistent people power

Posted on June 7, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban, Jennie Herrera, Lynn Giddings When the Supreme Court in Hobart convenes for the final, crucial session on August 20, 2018, to hear Sue Neill-Fraser seeking leave to appeal against her murder conviction, members of the official … Continue reading →

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 6 Comments

Sue Neill-Fraser – video flashback

Posted on April 15, 2018 by andrew

There are very substantial doubts about this case … the evidence is so weak …. it is hard to see how any conviction could stand … Tasmania’s legal system risks being a laughing stock, if it wasn’t such a tragedy. … Continue reading →

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Prosecutorial immunity in the hands of psychopaths? A case study

Posted on April 5, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban. Small time crim John Thompson was nearly executed for a murder he didn’t commit. At his trial in 1985, the New Orleans prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence. Then District Attorney – Harry Connick Snr (now retired) … Continue reading →

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A law unto themselves, absent model principles

Posted on April 3, 2018 by andrew

Bill Rowlings* questions how ‘professional’ is the Legal Profession Board of Tasmania. It’s a quango that only recently worked out it needs to abide by model litigant principles, a decade after it was created. And it seems to particularly dislike … Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | 5 Comments

Sue Neill-Fraser – re-reporting from court

Posted on April 1, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban In her long running appeal against her 2010 murder conviction, Hobart grandmother Sue Neill-Fraser is finding new obstacles, compounded by inaccurate reporting: a fellow prisoner, Stephen Gleeson, has been charged with perverting justice (in her favour). … Continue reading →

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 6 Comments

Time to end prosecutorial immunity

Posted on March 26, 2018 by andrew

By Frederick Block * JABBAR COLLINS languished in jail for over 16 years for a murder he apparently never committed. He was only freed a few years ago when it was revealed at a post-conviction hearing that the main witness at … Continue reading →

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Australian democracy not always by the ‘rule of law’

Posted on March 25, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban In the context of the immigration debate Australia’s Prime Minister (and lawyer of renown), recently extolled the virtues of Australian democracy and its adherence to the ‘rule of law principles’, yet “the criminal appeal system in … Continue reading →

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Sue Neill-Fraser prosecutor Ellis replies to journalist

Posted on March 17, 2018 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban Tim Ellis SC, then Tasmania’s DPP and the man who prosecuted Sue Neill-Fraser in 2010 for murder, addressed several aspects of his prosecution – in public. It’s rare that a prosecutor speaks in detail publicly about one … Continue reading →

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 7 Comments

Sue Neill-Fraser: winds of change favour Four Winds

Posted on March 11, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban A sensational late summer day in Hobart on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 – which I spent on a yacht on the Derwent thanks to my brother and sister in law – can in hindsight be seen … Continue reading →

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Sue Neill-Fraser – latest appeal hearing dates (March 2018)

Posted on February 28, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban Delays for a variety of reasons have stretched the time-line in the latest Sue Neill-Fraser appeal, since the first directions hearing, which was almost exactly a year after the relevant legislation was passed, two and a … Continue reading →

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