Woeful quality control of expert/scientific testimony compromises justice system

Andrew L. Urban.

Can we trust a criminal justice system that despite some five decades of complaints and dozens of miscarriages of justice, has failed to address the dangers of poor quality scientific evidence or help improve its reliability. If it were an airline, it would be grounded.  Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 6 Comments

Sue Neill-Fraser appeal deferred (yet again) to March 1, 2021

Andrew L. Urban.

Just 18 months before Sue Neill-Fraser becomes eligible for parole after 13 years in prison, her new appeal will now be heard in the first week of March 2021 – coronavirus travel restrictions permitting, it was decided at a directions hearing yesterday afternoon (Oct. 7, 2020) in Hobart’s Supreme Court before Justice Wood.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 45 Comments

Cardinal Pell … well, well, well

Italian media have reported that Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, 72, is suspected of wiring 700,000 euros to recipients in Australia who helped to ensure hostile testimony in the trial of Cardinal George Pell, who was accused of molesting choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s. Becciu, days after being sacked by the Pope, denies the truth of the reports.  Continue reading

Posted in Case 07 George Pell | 4 Comments

Letter from the rip

This private letter is from a man who has led an exemplary life, but when accused of historical sexual molestation by a vengeful woman, then a youngster, years after the alleged events, he was tried and convicted, his life ruined. He maintains his innocence (the accuser’s mother believes & supports him) and a lawyer has prepared pro bono a 70 page analysis of his case that shows how the system wrongly convicted him. He has given me permission to publish the letter. Continue reading

Posted in Case 06 'Paul' | 10 Comments

‘Shocking scandal nobody wants to touch’: MP

This is an edited version of the full article in the CLA news, by Bill Rowlings, CEO of Civil Liberties Australia.  Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 6 Comments

Undercurrent – tv docoseries on Sue Neill-Fraser case online globally

Undercurrent, the 6-part docoseries digging into the investigation leading to the murder conviction of Tasmanian grandmother Sue Neill-Fraser broadcast on the Seven Network in March 2019, except in Tasmania, is now available to watch free, around the world, on TUBI.

It is also accessible at 7+

 

 

Posted in Case 01 Sue Neill-Fraser | 13 Comments

Public register would endanger wrongfully convicted

Andrew L. Urban

As controversial as this view may be, I urge great caution in lobbying for the currently proposed national public – public! – register of convicted child sex offenders – whom I abhor as much as everyone. There would be severe and unacceptable unintended consequences of such a scheme.  Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 4 Comments

Sloppy evidence gathering = wrongful conviction

Faulty bite mark analysis and the unreliable testimony of a prisoner delivered a rape & murder conviction against Robert DuBoise in Florida 37 years ago. He has just been released after the forensic testimony was discredited and DNA evidence confirmed his innocence. Continue reading

Posted in Forensic evidence, General articles | Leave a comment

Police gullibility or a rush to judgement?

Vanessa Engle’s 59 minute BBC2 doco, The  Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech, is accurately titled; let’s hope we get to see it in Australia sometime soon (following its August 24, 2020 premiere in the UK). The readiness of police to believe the unbelievable when the allegations concern child sex abuse is not unique to the UK. Remember the Cook family in NSW? Continue reading

Posted in General articles | Leave a comment

What’s wrong Mr Attorney General? Do you know?

Andrew L. Urban.

How can a man who doesn’t seem to know right from wrong be the Attorney General of an Australian State? I don’t know the answer, but I do believe I have evidence that NSW AG Mark Speakman SC makes decisions that reflect poorly on his moral compass. Here are two key examples.  Continue reading

Posted in General articles | 7 Comments