Andrew L. Urban.
“I am innocent,” Robert Xie called out in court before being led away to a lifetime in jail for the brutal and bloody murder of five of his wife’s family, with whom he had dinner the night before their deaths. He and his wife Kathy Lin both maintain he was framed – framed by a system they say unfairly pursued and prosecuted him. Written submissions of the grounds of appeal cast some light on why he might think that … here are just two extracts. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Robert Xie’s barrister, Belinda Rigg SC, continued on Day 2 of the hearing to pull apart the expert evidence around the DNA, arguing to the appeal court that the uncertainty of forensic testing outcomes were never properly and clearly put to the jury. The evidence presented had “the capacity to mislead the jury”. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Two large screens facing the court room show a diminutive Robert Xie, seated at a desk, dressed in black and holding a black pen, linked in from the Lithgow Correctional Facility, where he is serving a life sentence. He was convicted in January 2017 of brutally murdering five members of his wife’s family, including two young boys, back in 2009. His appeal has begun in the grand theatre of NSW Supreme Court’s Banco Court, with its tiered seating, elevated judges’ bench, paintings of red robed Supreme Court justices hung high on the walls, the sombre clerks of the court and three bewigged and red robed judges in the flesh. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Chief Justice of NSW Tom Bathurst QC will be one of the judges (along with Justices Hulme and Beech-Jones) to hear the appeal by Lian Bin (Robert) Xie against his five 2017 murder convictions, starting on Monday, June 22, 2020, in the spacious Banco Court of the Law Courts Building in Queens Square, Sydney. The convictions, we believe, are collectively unsafe; see below. Whatever the outcome of the appeal, it is destined to be a historic legal milestone – and we will be reporting on the proceedings. Continue reading
One of Australia’s most respected former detectives, COLIN McLAREN, has broken rank from police circles, to speak out against a judicial system he no longer believes in. Indeed, he suffered threats of arrest because he dared to find glaring faults in a past murder case, forcing him to leave Australia, permanently. He will reside overseas until Australia installs a criminal cases review commission to tackle wrongful convictions. He filed this post as he left. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
A new, independent body that will have the power to send potential miscarriages of justice back to an appeal court is on track to begin receiving applications from July 1, 2020 – but not in Australia. It’s the New Zealand Criminal Cases Review Commission (NZCCRC), leaving Australia behind in dealing with miscarriages of justice, laments former High Court judge Michael Kirby AC CMG. Continue reading
May 19, 2020, 5:55 PM ET: Today the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt the execution of Walter “Arkie” Barton, after the court of appeals for the 8th Circuit lifted the stay on his execution, discounting evidence of his innocence because it was previously available to his defence counsel. Barton was executed later that evening. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Most people trust the legal system and accept the guilty verdicts of the courts. Is that trust sometimes betrayed – either maliciously or through incompetence? And is it justified? Not if these few examples of innocents being punished are any indication. Continue reading
The Australian’s Deborah Cornwall reports exclusively today: A Sydney man is suing his former wife, the NSW Police Force and a crown prosecutor for malicious prosecution and damages, accusing them of causing him “severe mental anguish” after persisting with false rape charges against him by his former wife. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Three Tasmanian judges will hear Sue Neill-Fraser’s new appeal later this year against her conviction for the 2009 murder of her partner Bob Chappell, amid concerns that the appeal should be heard not by local but by interstate judges. One reason is that the trial judge, Alan Blow, is now Chief Justice of Tasmania – their boss. But no doubt Justices Helen Wood, Stephen Estcourt and Robert Pearce will exercise objectivity and learned good judgement, as we suggest in this HYPOTHETICAL. Continue reading