Andrew L. Urban.
In a short, sharp announcement in the Banco Court by NSW Chief Justice Bathurst, Robert Xie’s appeal (on eight grounds) was rejected this morning (15/2/2021), dealing a devastating blow to Xie’s tearful wife Kathy Lin, seated opposite the bench, and of course to Robert himself, appearing via videolink. Continue reading
Some 20,000 Fact Sheets (see below) about the Sue Neill-Fraser case will be distributed to letter boxes around Hobart ahead of her latest appeal that begins on March 1, 2021, in Hobart Supreme Court, as a community service on behalf of wrongfulconvictionsreport.org Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Sue Neill-Fraser, 65, has never hugged her grandchildren outside prison. She was arrested# on August 20, 2009, charged with murdering her partner Bob Chappell on Australia Day 2009. We hereby mark the bleak 12th anniversary. She has always maintained her innocence (as have many supporters and several lawyers) but her nightmare has continued, as the Tasmanian legal system failed her every step of the way.* Her final appeal against her conviction is scheduled to begin shortly (March 1, 2021) but is it just a matter of ‘going through the motions’ with only local judges on the bench (contrary to accepted practice)? Continue reading
A Black man who spent 26 years in prison on charges of raping and killing an 84-year-old white woman from Mississippi, was exonerated on January 18, 2021, after new evidence and the dismissal of bite mark evidence that was the key to his conviction. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
It is not the first time that police have recklessly charged and detained an innocent man on child sex abuse related charges, just on the say-so of an accuser. Evidence would be a good start … (Most recently we reported on the case of John Fleming – and Cardinal Pell) This case highlights the urgent need for reforming the current process that effectively denies the accused any safeguards, with terrible consequences for them – and a waste of public resources. (In February 2019 we reported on Daniel Jones, and in September 2020 on the Cook family’s extraordinary ordeal. And let’s not forget ‘Paul’…) Continue reading
Recent events in Australia give little cause for optimism that we have either a clean, efficient and effective criminal justice system or an incorruptible and just policing regime, writes DR AUGUSTO ZIMMERMAN in Quadrant (3/1/21), as he deconstructs the appalling travesty of the John Fleming case in South Australia. And sees “something rotten with Australian justice more broadly”. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Journalist Malcolm Brown managed to irritate both sides: the Northern Territory Police (and Government) as well as Stuart Tipple, the lawyer for Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, which makes the two men ideal co-authors of Tipple’s journey through the history-making case of 9-week old Azaria Chamberlain’s 1980 disappearance at Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Lindy Chamberlain’s wrongful conviction of her murder. Continue reading
Tunnel-vision-blighted police investigations, junk science as evidence, prosecutors ‘impermissibly straining for a conviction’ (as Justice Fullerton has put it) and judges failing to adhere to the rule of law are all causes of blunders resulting in wrongful convictions and failed appeals. We reported on several of such blunders during the year; here is our Year in Review. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
Should we call them mis-convicted murderers, perhaps, those poor unfortunate souls who have suffered the catastrophe of a wrongful conviction? As we prepare to leave 2020 behind and look across time into 2021, we must hope along with them that the criminal justice system will correct those wrongful convictions, in many cases far too long after the verdict was delivered. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
British author, journalist, and a consultant in forensic evidence, Satish C. Sekar, believes it is “only a question of time before a special inquiry is established” into the trail of unsafe forensic reports generated by Dr Colin Manock over his decades long tenure as Chief Forensic Pathologist in South Australia, not least the case of Derek Bromley, still in jail after 37 years. In a letter to the SA Attorney General Vickie Chapman, Sekar urges a proactive approach, echoing earlier calls. Continue reading