Andrew L. Urban
How really reliable is testimony from expert witnesses? How can juries and judges tell if what they are told is unbiased, grounded in solid scientific knowledge and not just opinion? How should such witnesses conduct themselves? Try this check list. Continue reading
A month after its publication, the book chronicling the career to date of Margaret Cunneen SC, The Boxing Butterfly, is in its second print-run, after a rush of demand, according to publisher Michael Wilkinson of Wilkinson Publishing. The book was launched at two functions in late June, the first at the Wyllie martial arts gym where Cunneen does her boxing, the second at her chambers in the heart of Sydney’s legal-land. Continue reading
The Criminal Appeals Amendment Bill 2021, the new statutory right of (second and subsequent) appeal, has now been introduced in Western Australia. It passed the parliament on June 15, 2022, and now awaits formal assent before being enacted. Continue reading
In response to a question about the Derek Bromley case by reader Jerry Fitzsimmons, Flinders University legal academic Dr Bob Moles explains why fresh evidence at appeal can help overturn an unsafe conviction, but the Crown cannot use fresh evidence to bolster its case. Continue reading
The SA Director of Public Prosecutions should be directed to inform the High Court that the evidence of Dr Colin Manock, former chief pathologist in South Australia, was inadmissible as he was not qualified to do autopsies or to give expert evidence in court. That was over 38 years ago, when Derek Bromley was convicted of murder based on Manock’s evidence. This is the long simmering issue in the controversial fight over Bromley’s conviction, claimed to be a miscarriage of justice. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban
Requests to the Tasmanian Premier and Attorney-General for comment on the Etter/Selby documents repudiating the police investigation into Bob Chappell’s disappearance tabled in Parliament last August have been ignored, while signatures on the petition calling for a review of Sue Neill-Fraser’s conviction for Chappell’s murder have soared to over 32,300. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
We report (sourced with thanks from The Australian, May 18, 2022) and comment (in red) on the latest development in this case. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
The High Court adjourned for just four minutes before resuming at 2.45pm on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, with a unanimous decision that Steven Fennell’s appeal against his murder conviction should be upheld. A verdict of acquittal was entered. “I was in my cell about to eat my yoghurt when prison officers came to the door and said, `you’re going’,” he told The Courier-Mail. Continue reading
Ukraine’s most popular comedic actor was an unlikely President of his country. And now even more improbably, Volodymyr Zelensky has become the world’s most celebrated statesman. Yet more improbably, the first book about him comes from Australia. Continue reading
Three miscarriages of justice – the cases of Derek Bromley, Sue Neill-Fraser and Kathleen Folbigg – will each be the subject of a one-hour online discussion led by Dr Bob Moles, for the South Australian Workers Educational Association (WEA). Continue reading