Andrew L. Urban.
In Pell, the Victorian Court of Appeal’s Judgement “falls apart under your eyes,” writes jurist John Finnis AC QC in the new book Current Issues in the Law of Evidence (Connor Court). The Appeal judges, it seems, acted as irrationally as did the jury at trial. Finnis explains how Cardinal George Pell’s innocence is proven. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
If Tasmania’s Attorney-General fails to act on last week’s Etter/Selby submission revealing the withholding of evidence by police, misleading forensic evidence and serious investigation failures into the 2009 death of Bob Chappell, her decision will be considered in effect a political cover-up and a degradation of Tasmanian justice. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Evidence withheld by police, misleading forensic evidence and serious investigation failures into the death of Bob Chappell (including the unchecked mobile phone records of key witness Meaghan Vass) revealed in a damning submission calling for the Attorney General to ask for the re-opening of the Sue Neill-Fraser appeal. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
If you’ve been wrongfully convicted, just hope you’re living in a jurisdiction with well developed correcting functions in the legal system. Differing legal mechanisms in different places produce uneven outcomes. And while Australia has yet to even officially discuss a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Canada has asked two Australian legal academics for advice on how to set up theirs. And the advice includes a notable innovation. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
A lengthy report that details flawed police investigation practices and failure to disclose evidence, has been sent to Tasmania’s Attorney General, Elise Archer, bringing to light information that has not been presented to court at either the trial of Sue Neill-Fraser or at subsequent appeal hearings. Continue reading
Controversial, lamentable, anti free speech – or perfectly justified? In the wake of the Menzies Research Centre’s Judicial Impartiality Report (see our story on July 22, 2021) and its findings regarding Justice Bromberg’s judgements, we review some responses to his decision against Andrew Bolt in the controversial case of Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103, brought under the Racial Discrimination Act. Was that a wrongful conviction? Does the answer depend on ideological bias; left v right? We present a variety of opinions for debate. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Consistency in the administration of the law is absolutely paramount – yet compensation for mistakes (or malpractice) that convict the innocent is applied higgledy-piggledy by politicians throughout Australia. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
The full title of Malcolm Gladwell’s book is Talking to Strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know. For someone who did in fact talk to many, many strangers on the streets of Australia with a TV camera for my prime time SBS program, Front Up in the 90s, the subject matter is irresistible. And the book proved to be unputdownable … plus highly relevant to the subject of wrongful convictions. Continue reading
The Attorney General’s Transparency Branch has a fool proof tactic, straight out of Yes, Minister, to shut down anything it doesn’t want to address. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
The majority of Australians (82%) don’t trust judges’ impartiality, according to the Menzies Research Centre’s (MRC) submission on Judicial Impartiality to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), which was tasked with examining the subject by former Attorney General Christian Porter; the ALRC will lodge its report by September 31, 2021. Continue reading