Sofronoff report ready but release delayed by ACT Chief Minister; why?

Andrew L. Urban

It is delivered today, July 31, 2023, but the ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr “currently intends” to release some or all of the Sofronoff inquiry report into the handling of the Brittany Higgins rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann and the abandoned trial, at the end of August. No reasons are given. None would be acceptable. Continue reading

Posted in Case 18 Bruce Lehrmann | 6 Comments

Listen to Lynn, Attorney-General; the public is speaking

This compelling and heartfelt letter from Hobart resident Lynn Giddings to Tasmania’s Attorney-General is representative of public demand for a Commission of Inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser. And below, Giddings witnessed how the jury had been left with a false impression about DNA in the latex glove from the crime scene. It wasn’t Sue Neill-Fraser’s.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 28 Comments

Excuses by Tasmania’s Attorney-General to avoid a Commission of Inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser are indefensible

Andrew L. Urban.

Book him now. He’s moving south. Queensland last year, ACT this year…Tasmania next year? Walter Sofronoff KC will be available to chair a Commission of Inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser. Excuses by the Attorney-General to avoid one are indefensible.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 14 Comments

THE EXONERATION PAPERS – SUE NEILL-FRASER

The new book by investigative journalist, Andrew L. Urban, THE EXONERATION PAPERS – SUE NEILL-FRASER, disputes the Tasmanian Attorney-General’s justification for refusing the many requests for an inquiry into the controversial 2010 murder conviction. Urban also cites lawyers who present a dozen appealable grounds that have not been considered by the courts.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 19 Comments

Is Victorian justice dependent on your politics?

In the wake of ACT’s DPP Shane Drumgold’s public shaming for his handling of the Brittany Higgins rape allegation, Victoria’s DPP, Kerri Judd KC, is mauled for her refusal to lay charges in the (expensive) Lawyer X scandal. GERARD HENDERSON (in The Weekend Australian, July 1, 2023) reveals the troubling background that might explain why.  Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Has ICAC found Gladys Berejiklian Clayton’s corrupt?

Andrew L. Urban.

June 29, 2023: Investigating a third NSW Premier, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has found former Premier Gladys Berejiklian engaged in ‘serious corrupt conduct’. But not corrupt enough to recommend the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It’s the corruption finding you have when you don’t have a corruption finding – a bit like Clayton’s, the non alcoholic drink you have when you are not having a drink, perhaps. Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 9 Comments

A key piece of criminal justice infrastructure is missing

Professor David Hamer and Dr Andrew Dyer from Sydney Law School explain why Kathleen Folbigg’s pardon points to the need for a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in Australia.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 17 Kathleen Folbigg, CCRC, General articles | 25 Comments

When pigs do fly: the Crown proved wrong in Folbigg case

Andrew L. Urban.

At the murder trial of Kathleen Folbigg in 2003, prosecutor Mark Tedeschi compared the likelihood of four children in the same family dying of natural causes to pigs flying. It was the Crown’s alternative to relying on the discredited and inadmissible Meadows’ Law, a statistical formulation claiming that three or more such deaths must be regarded as murder. But Tedeschi’s pigs do fly, as demonstrated in the comprehensive 2021 submission by Folbigg’s barrister Dr Robert Cavanagh and solicitor Rhanee Rego – as confirmed by the results of the 2023 inquiry that exonerated Folbigg. Continue reading

Posted in Case 17 Kathleen Folbigg | 9 Comments

Comment moderators in conflict with editorial at The Australian?

Andrew L. Urban.

Are the gatekeepers of reader comments on The Australian – the moderators –  in ideological conflict with the editors?  Continue reading

Posted in Case 18 Bruce Lehrmann, General articles | 3 Comments

A tendency to wrongful convictions?

Andrew L. Urban.

Is justice served when a false accusation of sexual abuse is supported by another false accusation of sexual abuse and the court accepts the second accusation as tendency evidence proving wrongdoing? A preliminary assessment of his case suggests that is what happened to retired public servant Noel Greenaway, now 85, sentenced to 20 years jail just over three years ago. With a writing pad on his knees, he rages against his injustice from his cell. Our investigation continues.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 22 Noel Greenaway | 25 Comments