Andrew L. Urban
Kathleen Folbigg’s case is finally heading to the Appeals Court where it is expected her convictions for the murder of her children will be quashed, after findings in the latest inquiry, completed earlier this year, digested the scientific evidence. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth … that’s the oath taken by witnesses in criminal trials. But not by prosecutors. In our adversarial system, the truth can be an incidental benefit to a conviction. Continue reading
The call by The Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative (BOHII) to hold off on the development of a Criminal Cases Review Commission “is quite frankly baffling,” comments Dr Bob Moles, “and can, in my opinion, only serve to alienate them from their main client group – those claiming to be wrongly convicted – and the entire academic and professional community working in this area.” Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban.
It was 10 years ago: “This case calls for an inquiry,” said the late and great defence barrister Chester Porter KC, after a public screening (at Sydney’s Chauvel Cinema) of Shadow of Doubt, Eve Ash’s documentary about the Sue Neill-Fraser case. You can watch him here. Accompanied and supported by former Lindy Chamberlain lawyer Stuart Tipple, the great man warned that Tasmania could become a laughing stock, if it wasn’t so serious. And ten years later, Tasmania has resolutely chosen to stay a legal laughing stock.
“His formidable ability to both charm and devour his prey during cross-examination as a top defence barrister earned Chester Porter two epitaphs. One, that he could walk on water, which he adopted in a book title. The other, he was not as fond of, as the ‘smiling funnel-web’,” Wrote Anna Patty (SMH March 17, 2021) on Porter’s death at age 95.
The late Chester Porter KC
Porter was only the first eminent lawyer with whom Tasmania’s Attorney-General Elise Archer disagrees, denying the need for a Commission of Inquiry into the controversial case.
She also disagrees with:
Barbara Etter APM
Dr Bob Moles
Greg Barns SC
Hugh Selby
Jeff Thompson
Lara Giddings
Marcus Einfeld KC
Margaret Cunneen SC
Paul Galbally
Robert Richter KC
Tom Percy KC
… and 37,000 signatories to a petition.
Andrew L. Urban.
Why am I writing about climate change on a blog devoted to wrongful convictions? My justification is that carbon dioxide has been wrongfully convicted of causing global warming, according to climate scientists, and the alarmism is causing many children to be overly anxious. (Not to mention all the other damage…) And I’ve been ‘triggered’ … Continue reading
Today is the second anniversary of the tabling of papers in the Tasmanian Legislative Council that dissect many serious problems with the investigation and prosecution of Sue Neill-Fraser for the 2009 Australia Day murder of her partner, but Tasmanian media and law bodies have been careful not to have a look. Former barrister HUGH SELBY (a co-author of the tabled papers) says that’s the Tassie way, but does it have to be?
Continue reading
A fascinating and gob-smacking interview of Dr Scott McLachlan by Norman Fenton that raises much doubt about Lucy Letby’s guilt is part of a report that takes the lid off the most sensational multiple death case in the UK. NIALL McCRAE writes in unitynewsnetwork.co.uk Continue reading
Dear Attorney,
In my new book, The Exoneration Papers – Sue Neill-Fraser (Wilkinson Publishing), I challenge your claims as to why you have not and will not instigate a Commission of Inquiry into the case of Sue Neill-Fraser. I invite you to publicly respond to my criticisms of your reasons. Continue reading
Andrew L. Urban
I suspect* that Hobart grandmother Sue Neill-Fraser, convicted** in 2010 of murdering her partner of 18 years Bob Chappell, whose body has never been found, can’t wait to be injected with the truth drug Sodium Pentothal that has been proposed by two senior barristers as a way to force convicted killers to reveal the bodies of their victims and give closure to the families of victims. Trial judge Alan Blow (now Tasmania’s Chief Justice) handed Sue Neill-Fraser an extra long sentence for not revealing that information. (The appeal court chided him, ever so respectfully, and took three years off the 26 year sentence he imposed.) Continue reading
As things stand, politicians burdened with the responsibilities of Attorney-General often face the impossible choice of advising the relevant Governor on petitions from innocents convicted of sexual abuse. It should not be their choice; legal matters should stay within the realm of the administration of the law, not politics, argues ANDREW L. URBAN. Continue reading