Placeholder Content Image

99-year-old woman declared accessory to over 10,000 murders

<p>A court in Germany has upheld the conviction of a 99-year-old woman who, during the Second World War, was the secretary to the SS commander at a Nazi concentration camp. </p> <p>The Federal Justice Court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of Irmgard Furchner, who was convicted of being an accessory to more than 10,000 murders and was given a two-year suspended sentence in December 2022. </p> <p>Furchner was accused of being a key part of the apparatus that helped the camp near Danzig, now the Polish city of Gdansk, function, and was subsequently convicted of being an accessory to murder in 10,505 cases and an accessory to attempted murder in five cases.</p> <p>At a federal court hearing in Leipzig in July, Furchner's lawyers cast doubt on whether she really was an accessory to crimes committed by the commander and other senior camp officials between 1943 and 1945, and on whether she had truly been aware of what was going on at Stutthof.</p> <p>The court said that judges were convinced that Furchner “knew and, through her work as a stenographer in the commandant’s office of the Stutthof concentration camp from June 1st 1943, to April 1st 1945, deliberately supported the fact that 10,505 prisoners were cruelly killed by gassings, by hostile conditions in the camp,” by transportation to the Auschwitz death camp and by being sent on death marches at the end of the war.</p> <p>Germany's main Jewish leader welcomed the ruling. “For Holocaust survivors, it is enormously important for a late form of justice to be attempted,” Josef Schuster, the head of the Central Council of Jews, said in statement.</p> <p>“The legal system sent an important message today: even nearly 80 years after the Holocaust, no line can be drawn under Nazi crimes,” he added.</p> <p>During the original court proceedings, prosecutors said that Furchner’s trial may be the last of its kind, however, a special federal prosecutors’ office in Ludwigsburg tasked with investigating Nazi-era war crimes says three more cases are pending with prosecutors or courts in various parts of Germany.</p> <p>With any suspects now at a very advanced age, questions increasingly arise over suspects’ fitness to stand trial.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Sky News</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Why Greg Lynn could walk free from prison

<p>Greg Lynn has applied to be freed from jail until his sentencing hearing over the murder of Carol Clay. </p> <p>The former Jetstar pilot, who was found guilty of murdering the 73-year-old while she was camping with her secret partner Russell Hill in March 2020, is appealing the guilty verdict which the jury came to after a weeks-long trial in June. </p> <p>The 57-year old appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday where Justice Michael Croucher heard the convicted killer had been the victim of prison attacks during his six-week trial. </p> <p>The court heard Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann KC is in the process of compiling submissions calling on Justice Croucher to hold of on sentencing his client until an appeal over his conviction can be heard by the Court of Appeal. </p> <p>If granted, the "stay" of sentence could allow Lynn to apply for bail while his appeal goes through the court. </p> <p>The court also heard that Lynn had been placed in isolation within the Metropolitan Remand Prison for his own safety since the guilty verdict was read, but now fears he will be targeted by inmates at whatever prison he ultimately ends up in. </p> <p>Mr Dann said a successful appeal could result in Lynn being set free altogether without the possibility of a re-trial, due to doubts over whether he could obtain a fair trial because of the significant publicity surrounding the case and the murder conviction. </p> <p>"The chances of a fair re-trial are non-existent," Mr Dann said. </p> <p>The experienced barrister said any potential jurors would have been "polluted or poisoned" by the "inadmissible evidence" that has "flooded" news sites since the guilty verdict was delivered.  </p> <p>The court heard Mr Dann believed his client had multiple reasons to push for an appeal over his verdict, including the "unfair" way in which he claimed the Office of Public Prosecutions carried out the trial. </p> <p>Mr Dann reiterated to the court that his client has always maintained his innocence, saying, "He maintains that he's never killed any person at any time, at any place, anywhere, ever."</p> <div data-component="EmphasisedText"> <p>"The long-term future of that guilty verdict must be seen as being in grave doubt."</p> <p><span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: abcsans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif;">The case was adjourned until a pre-sentence hearing on September 12th. </span></p> <p><em><span style="font-family: abcsans, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif;">Image credits: Facebook</span></em></p> </div>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Convicted child rapist qualifies for Olympic team

<p>A convicted child rapist has qualified to represent The Netherlands at the upcoming 2024 Olympics. </p> <p>Steven van de Velde will head to Paris in July to represent the country in beach volleyball, much to the dismay of many. </p> <p>Van de Velde's selection has caused outrage given he pleaded guilty to three counts of rape in 2014 and was sentenced to four years in jail.</p> <p>He was convicted in 2016 and only served one year behind bars. </p> <p>The athlete, now 29, admitted to meeting the then 12-year-old on Facebook before travelling to England from Amsterdam to meet her when he raped her, after being aware of her age. </p> <p>At the 2016 sentencing, the judge labelled Van de Velde's Olympic aspirations a "shattered dream" due to the conviction.</p> <p>However, the Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOC) have given him another chance, despite the fact that the British Olympic Committee is allegedly uncomfortable with the Van de Velde selection.</p> <p>"Since 2018, Steven van de Velde has been participating in international beach volleyball tournaments again following an intensive, professionally supervised trajectory," the NOC said in a statement.</p> <p>Despite the unusual selection, the International Olympic Committee allows each nation to select its own athletes and does not veto any picks.</p> <p>Following his release from jail, Van de Velde said in an interview in 2018, "I made that choice in my life when I wasn't ready, I was a teenager still figuring things out."</p> <p>"I was sort of lost and now I have so much more life experience, aside from just being incarcerated. Any form of help would have been very very helpful, maybe that's what I would have told myself, seek help."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Xinhua News Agency/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p> <p> </p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

How mistaken identity can lead to wrongful convictions

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hayley-cullen-423538">Hayley Cullen</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></p> <p>In March 1976, American Leonard Mack was convicted of sexual assault and holding two female victims at gunpoint. In September 2023, Mack’s wrongful conviction was finally overturned by a New York judge on his 72nd birthday with the help of the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/hit-in-dna-database-proves-leonard-macks-innocence-after-47-years-of-wrongful-conviction/">Innocence Project</a>, an organisation that uses DNA evidence to prove factual innocence.</p> <p>Mack’s conviction took 47 years to overturn. He served seven-and-a-half of these years in a New York prison. His case is the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/8-moving-moments-from-leonard-macks-historic-exoneration-after-47-years/">longest</a> in United States history to be overturned using DNA evidence.</p> <p>In June 2023, a similar historic moment occurred in Australia. Kathleen Folbigg was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/05/kathleen-folbigg-pardoned-after-20-years-in-jail-over-deaths-of-her-four-children">pardoned and released</a> after 20 years in prison for the murder and manslaughter of her four young children.</p> <p>Considered one of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/folbigg-release-would-make-chamberlain-case-pale-into-insignificance-20230307-p5cpya.html">worst miscarriages of justice</a> in Australian history, Folbigg’s release has sparked discussion over whether Australia needs a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/12/not-a-rare-case-kathleen-folbigg-pardon-sparks-calls-for-new-body-to-review-possible-wrongful-convictions">formalised body</a> to deal with post-conviction appeals.</p> <p>Mack and Folbigg are only two individuals on different sides of the world who have spent decades fighting to prove their innocence.</p> <p>Many others are still fighting. The prevalence of wrongful convictions is hard to determine. The <a href="https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx">National Registry of Exonerations</a> in the United States has recorded 3,396 exonerations nation-wide since 1989.</p> <p>But data on official exonerations fail to capture the many individuals whose convictions are yet to be overturned.</p> <p>Estimates of the prevalence of wrongful convictions in the United States range from <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/08874034221106747?casa_token=DL_gPkxNcI8AAAAA:uI-en9junmLXXScDGthXAuC9JcLsxp5OF1J4QB1WdA2L2cZRcwRuwtxVmIMiKYbYaSDj_ji4EdPSLA">0.5 to 5%</a>. The exact prevalence in Australia is less clear but we do know <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.801706351305383?casa_token=cpZBfZmh944AAAAA%3Ax_zYUlnogLjuDWl81jc38vmeOovzw44M171rP7G3ibNnU35rvWS0yeIO_Ad0eBa54nE54KxaKzIb3w4">71 cases of wrongful convictions</a> have been identified in Australia between 1922 to 2015.</p> <p>Some have argued there could be <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.308199161216493">350 convictions per year</a> of individuals who are factually innocent in Australia.</p> <p>A witness mistakenly identifying an innocent suspect is common in many wrongful conviction cases.</p> <p>Eyewitness misidentification is the leading contributing factor in wrongful convictions overturned by the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/exonerations-data/">Innocence Project</a>, present in 64% of their successful cases.</p> <p>In Australia, <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.801706351305383?casa_token=cpZBfZmh944AAAAA%3Ax_zYUlnogLjuDWl81jc38vmeOovzw44M171rP7G3ibNnU35rvWS0yeIO_Ad0eBa54nE54KxaKzIb3w4">6%</a> of recorded wrongful convictions involved an eyewitness error.</p> <p>This may be an underestimate given many applications to innocence initiatives in Australia alleging wrongful conviction, such as the <a href="https://bohii.net/">Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative</a>, report <a href="https://bohii.net/blog/positiononestablishingccrcas">eyewitness evidence</a> as a potential contributing factor.</p> <p>In Mack’s case, two victims misidentified him as the perpetrator. These identifications proved to be instrumental in his wrongful conviction. How did the two victims get it wrong?</p> <h2>How problematic procedures influence eyewitnesses</h2> <p>Eyewitness identification evidence relies on witnesses to accurately remember criminal perpetrators. Several factors affect eyewitness memory accuracy. Features of the crime can impact memory, such as whether it was light or dark, or whether the perpetrator wore a disguise.</p> <p>Memory can also be affected by characteristics of the witness at the time of the crime, such as their stress or intoxication levels.</p> <p>These factors are present at the time of the crime and cannot be changed. What is perhaps more crucial is that eyewitness memory can also be affected by the procedures law enforcement use to collect identification evidence.</p> <p>In <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/hit-in-dna-database-proves-leonard-macks-innocence-after-47-years-of-wrongful-conviction/">Mack’s case</a>, there were serious problems with the procedures used to get the identifications from the victims. One of the victims made three separate identifications of Mack. Witnesses should only complete one identification procedure for each suspect, because the first identification will bias future identification attempts.</p> <p>For two of the identifications the victim made, she was only shown Mack by himself surrounded by police. Showing a lone suspect without any other lineup members may <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-29406-3_2">increase mistaken identifications</a>, particularly when the context in which they are shown is highly suggestive.</p> <p>Seeing Mack in handcuffs and in the presence of police may have led the victim to identify him. Mack was the only person shown to the witness in these identification attempts, so the police officers organising the process knew he was the suspect.</p> <p>“Single-blind” administration of identification procedures – where the police officers organising the lineup know who the suspect is – increase the likelihood of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-49224-002">mistaken identifications</a>.</p> <p>For the other identification this victim made, she picked Mack out of a photo lineup containing seven images. Mack’s photo was the only photo in the lineup that contained visible clothing and the year (1975) in the background. All members of a lineup must be matched and no one lineup member <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/lhb-lhb0000359.pdf">should stand out</a>, but Mack’s photo was distinct.</p> <p>With all these problematic practices combined, we can see how Mack was misidentified and convicted.</p> <p>In 2020, a team of eyewitness experts published <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/lhb-lhb0000359.pdf">nine evidence-based recommendations </a>for conducting identification procedures.</p> <p>These recommendations serve to reduce mistaken identifications and enhance accurate ones.</p> <p>The recommendations address the problematic practices in Mack’s case, but also include things like making sure there is sufficient evidence to place a suspect in a lineup, and giving appropriate instructions to witnesses during the procedure.</p> <p>Identification procedures should also be video recorded to identify any poor practices.</p> <p>While these recommendations will go a long way to reducing wrongful convictions resulting from faulty eyewitness identifications, they will only be effective if followed by police.</p> <p>The next step is ensuring these recommendations are embedded into everyday policing practice.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214844/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hayley-cullen-423538"><em>Hayley Cullen</em></a><em>, Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mistaken-identity-can-lead-to-wrongful-convictions-214844">original article</a>.</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Terminally ill teacher convicted of child abuse granted end-of-life permit

<p>A convicted child abuser from Adelaide, who was imprisoned for his acts of paedophilia against students during his tenure as a music teacher, has been authorised to pursue assisted dying, according to an exclusive report by <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/exclusive-adelaide-news-jailed-paedophile-teacher-malcolm-day-given-end-of-life-permit-voluntary-assisted-dying/cab7e95c-f3b1-4dbd-ae0d-cc8dbfee22c0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9News</a>.</p> <p>Malcolm Day, aged 81, has emerged as the first incarcerated individual in Australia to receive approval for voluntary assisted dying following a terminal illness diagnosis, reportedly linked to cancer.</p> <p>Having received a 20-year prison sentence last June, Day's remaining term spans 17 years.</p> <p>Navigating the 11-step process required for accessing voluntary assisted dying in South Australia, Day's application is reported to be in its concluding stages, potentially reaching completion within the next few days.</p> <p>Dr Philip Nitschke, the director of the pro-euthanasia organisation Exit International, acknowledged that an incarcerated individual availing themselves of this scheme was an inevitable eventuality.</p> <p>"By the sounds of it, he satisfies all the conditions of the South Australian assisted dying legislation," Dr Nitschke told 9News. "So there should be no impediment… he should be given the option that any other person would have if they were terminally ill."</p> <p>During the 1980s, Day, while serving as a music teacher in South Australia, inflicted profound and lasting harm upon two of his students. After grooming and exploiting his victims, he vehemently refuted all allegations when investigated by educational authorities.</p> <p>When Day was sentenced, his legal representative, Stephen Ey, acknowledged the real possibility of his client passing away behind bars, saying at the time that it was "a real prospect... given his age."</p> <p>According to the latest data from SA Health, since the initiation of voluntary assisted dying in January of this year, 39 terminally ill residents of South Australia have opted to peacefully conclude their lives after being granted the necessary permits.</p> <p><em>Image: Nine News</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Greta Thunberg slapped with first conviction over climate protest

<p dir="ltr">Greta Thunberg has been fined by a court in Sweden after she refused to obey the orders of Swedish police officers at a climate change protest. </p> <p dir="ltr">The 20-year-old activist pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying she disobeyed the direct police order to leave a climate protest as an act of necessity. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My actions are justifiable,” Thunberg told the court in Malmö, according to local media outlets.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I believe that we are in an emergency that threatens life, health and property. Countless people and communities are at risk both in the short term and in the long term.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg was part of a group of protesters that blocked the road for oil trucks trying to gain access to Malmö harbour. </p> <p dir="ltr">She was charged for failing to leave when ordered to do so by police.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg has been slapped with a fine for breaching the order, although it is not clear how much she will have to pay, as the fine will be based on her reported income. </p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg became the face of the youth climate protest movement in 2018, when she began skipping school each Friday at the age of 15 to stage solo climate protests outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm, holding up a sign reading, “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for climate).</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite regular school strikes and protests losing some momentum with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Thunberg has continued to travel the world joining climate protests and speaking at international summits, urging world leaders to act on the climate crisis.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Australian Olympic champion convicted of theft

<p>Australian Olympic champion and former diver Chantelle Newbery has been convicted of theft for stealing groceries from Woolworths.</p> <p>Newbery, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, was caught walking out with $383 worth of unpaid groceries in Towoomba, Queensland, last July.</p> <p>She later told the police that she had no food or money to pay for it, according to the <a href="https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toowoomba/chantelle-lee-newberys-dive-into-drug-use-ends-in-stealing-groceries-and-a-jail-term/news-story/50c6008c1d67130b170904c028bf9318" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toowoomba Chronicle</a>.</p> <p>Newbery, now 45, has also pleaded guilty to driving on a suspended licence, on December 5, but was released on immediate parole after being jailed for eight months.</p> <p>The reason why she wasn't jailed, according to Magistrate Kay Phillipson, was because at that time she was caring for her 18-month-old niece.</p> <p>The Magistrate told her, “you really need to turn things around".</p> <p>Newbery's solicitor Alysha Jacobsen told the court that the former diver had turned to drugs following her divorce from Robert Newbery.</p> <p>After the divorce, she also faced the death of her new partner and her mother.</p> <p>In 2014, she told Channel 9's <em>A Current Affair </em>that she resorted to drugs after her mother’s death.</p> <p>She also said that she had been suffering from chronic depression and had tried to commit suicide multiple times.</p> <p>“There have been times in the past few weeks especially around the time of the court case I knew I was slipping into a place where I was a little bit worried and I did actually go to a GP and get another referral to get help again,” she said.</p> <p>In 2021, she was caught with an ice pipe after being stopped for shoplifting from Woolworths and Target, to which she pleaded guilty for stealing and possessing drug utensils.</p> <p>Newbery was the first Australian Olympic diver to win gold in over 80 years at the 2004 Olympics.</p> <p>She received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2005.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p> <hr /> <p><strong><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, you can call these support services, 24 hours, 7 days:</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Lifeline: 13 11 14</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 (for people aged 5 to 25)</em></strong></p> <p><strong><em>MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>StandBy - Support After Suicide: 1300 727 24</em></strong></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Chris Dawson tries to overturn guilty verdict ahead of tell-all interview

<p>Chris Dawson has lodged the paperwork to begin the process of overturning his guilty conviction for the murder of his wife Lynette 40 years ago.</p> <p>The 74-year-old has spent the last five weeks in Sydney's Silverwater Jail, as he awaits his sentencing day in court on November 11.</p> <p>Despite the high-profile case producing a guilty verdict, Dawson has always maintained his innocence over the disappearance of Lynette, whose body still hasn't been found.</p> <p>Sources told <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11279117/Chris-Dawson-lodges-appeal-against-conviction-murdering-wife-Lynette-daughter-breaks-silence.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail Australia</a> last month that Dawson's legal team had recently lodged a notice of intention to appeal with the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.</p> <p><em>Nine News</em> also reported on Tuesday night the paperwork flagging Dawson's intention to appeal his conviction has now been formally submitted, as the network prepares to air an interview with one of his daughters.</p> <p>Shanelle Dawson is preparing to open up about growing up without her mother, along with the torment and confusion that arose form her disappearance in a tell-all interview with <em>60 Minutes</em>.</p> <p>Shanelle, who was just four years old when her mum Lynette vanished in 1982, said she was always told by her father that her mother left because she didn't love her and her other sisters.</p> <p>"I feel a lot of rage and anger towards him," Shanelle says in the <em>60 Minutes</em> preview.</p> <p>"It was manipulative and gaslighting us."</p> <p>"Whatever he said or threatened me kept me quiet for the next 40 years."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images / 60 Minutes</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Murder conviction overturned for podcast star

<p>A US judge has overturned the high profile murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who served more that 20 years behind bars for the death of his ex-girlfriend. </p> <p>Th 42-year-old's case shot to fame when he became the subject of the <em>Serial </em>podcast, which went on to gain worldwide notoriety. </p> <p>Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn vacated the conviction of Syed, who had been serving a life sentence since 2000 for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee.</p> <p>Phinn ordered Syed to be immediately released on his own recognisance “in the interests of justice and fairness”.</p> <p>The body of Hae Min Lee was found buried in February 1999 in a shallow grave in the woods of Baltimore, Maryland, with the autopsy revealing the cause of death for the 18-year-old was strangulation. </p> <p>Throughout his multiple appeals of the guilty verdict, Syed maintained his innocence, while his appeals were continuously denied,  including by the US Supreme Court which declined in 2019 to hear his case.</p> <p>In a surprising move last week, the Baltimore City state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby, announced that she had asked a judge to vacate Syed’s conviction while a further investigation is carried out.</p> <p>Assistant state’s attorney Becky Feldman told the judge that the decision was prompted by the discovery of new information regarding two alternative suspects and the unreliability of mobile phone data used to convict Syed.</p> <p>“The state has lost confidence in the integrity of his conviction,” Feldman said. “We need to make sure we hold the correct person accountable.</p> <p>“We will be continuing our investigation,” she said, while promising to “do everything we can to bring justice to the Lee family.”</p> <p>Prosecutors now have 30 days to either bring new charges or dismiss the case.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <div class="media image side-by-side" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; width: 705.203px; margin-bottom: 24px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </div>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

“How to Murder Your Husband” author convicted for murdering husband

<p dir="ltr">An author who wrote an essay about “How to Murder Your Husband” has been convicted of murdering her husband.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was found guilty on Wednesday of second-degree murder for shooting dead her chef husband Daniel Brophy, 63, back in June 2018. </p> <p dir="ltr">Prosecutors told the court that Crampton Brophy killed her husband to claim her husband’s $1.4 million life insurance policy. </p> <p dir="ltr">They said that she was collecting gun pieces in the moments leading to Daniel’s death before killing him at the Oregon Culinary Institute. </p> <p dir="ltr">Footage presented to the Multnomah County courtroom showed that Crampton Brophy in fact owned the same make and model of the gun that killed her husband.</p> <p dir="ltr">She was also seen driving to and from the culinary institute when Daniel was killed and found by his students. </p> <p dir="ltr">Her defence team argued that she was collecting them for a new book she was writing - about a woman who slowly collected gun parts to complete a weapon and get back at her abusive husband.</p> <p dir="ltr">They said that Crampton Brophy and Daniel were in a loving relationship for almost 25 years. </p> <p dir="ltr">The jury of five men and seven women deliberated the case for eight hours before delivering the guily verdict.</p> <p dir="ltr">One of Crampton Brophy’s attorneys, Lisa Maxfield said they are looking to appeal.</p> <p dir="ltr">Crampton Brophy is due to be sentenced on June 13.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Twitter</em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

‘A gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet’: remembering Chris Bailey, and the blazing comet that was The Saints

<p>Inala in the early 70s was bleak. A Brisbane suburb of wide dusty streets, treeless and bland. A planned community, meant to grow over time. Austerity, accented by the cheap houses – weatherboard, red brick, concrete – stifled the suburb like a blanket on a hot February night. </p> <p>It was boring. Beyond boring. The only concession to communal childhood joy was the pool, and the crazy concrete skate rink. But if you wanted a creative outlet, you needed to search elsewhere. </p> <p>Ivor Hay, (future Saints drummer), was heading to the picture theatre in Sherwood one Saturday night in early 1971, "and I saw Jeffrey [Wegener – another Saints drummer] with these two longhairs, Chris [Bailey] and Ed [Kuepper]. They were off to a birthday party in Corinda and asked me along. That was our first night."</p> <p>Bailey was raised by his mum, Bridget, in a house alive with siblings – mostly girls, who looked after the kid. He got away with a lot. </p> <p>“None of us had a lot of money,” Hay tells me. "Both Chris and I were raised by single mums in reasonably sized families. Chris’ mum was pretty feisty, with this Belfast accent which was just fantastic. They all looked after ‘Christopher’, he could do all sorts of things and they would accommodate him. His mum would have a go at him about the noise, but we’d just go to his bedroom and rehearse and bugger everybody else in the house!"</p> <p>Kuepper taught Hay to play the guitar: Stones and Beatles and Hendrix. Hay passed the knowledge down to Bailey, who was keen to learn. Neither Kuepper nor Bailey learned to drive, so Hay became the driver in those wide suburbs where driving and cars were everything. </p> <p>There was politics in Bailey’s house – his sister Margaret chained herself to the school gates to protest uniform policy – but this pervaded the town. The conservative government had no time for the young, and the police force did their best to make life difficult. </p> <p>But there was a sense that these young men were making something new. As Hay says, "We used to sing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internationale">The Internationale</a> at parties. I don’t know if we were revolutionaries, but we had that sense that something was happening. [With the band] we were doing something that we thought was going to change something. Chris was particularly good at pushing things, at being anti-everything."</p> <h2>Out of Inala</h2> <p>To escape the suburb was to head north to the railway line. It was the lifeline to the centre of Brisbane – record stores, bookshops and other forms of life. </p> <p>Kuepper remembers going into the city with Bailey. "We had intended to steal a record, and we went into Myers […] both wearing army disposal overcoats […] these two long haired guys walking into the record department with these overcoats […] surprisingly enough, we were successful!"</p> <p>Like the railway line, Ipswich Road joins Brisbane to the old coal town of Ipswich. It slices through these western suburbs, carrying hoons in muscle cars and streams of commuters, the occasional screaming cop car or ambulance.</p> <p>On Thursday nights, the boys used to sit at the Oxley Hotel, overlooking Ipswich Road, “just sit up there having beers, we wouldn’t have been much more than 17 or 18 at that time. Chatting about all sorts of stuff,” says Hay.</p> <p>"Chris and Ed were comic collectors and Stan Lee was the hero […] there were political discussions, philosophical discussions. Those guys could talk underwater."</p> <p>They talked and played and sang. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5YP_tsPzmg&amp;t=905s">And Bailey had the voice</a>. It was a force, not just loud and tuneful, but full of snarl and spit. </p> <p>Soon they had songs, and in 1976 scraped the money together to record and release their first single on their own Fatal Records label. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMwMDqOprc">(I’m) Stranded</a> took Bailey out of Inala, out of Brisbane and into the world. </p> <p>He never looked back.</p> <h2>A changed city</h2> <p>The Saints released three albums in as many years – (I’m) Stranded, Eternally Yours and Prehistoric Sounds – before Kuepper and Hay returned from the UK to Australia, leaving Bailey to his own devices. </p> <p>Bailey remained in Europe, releasing a cluster of solo albums and many Saints records over the next 40 years. He wrote some achingly beautiful songs. It is a testament to his talents as a songwriter that Bruce Springsteen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ4a_tgJp4I">recorded a version</a>of Bailey’s Just Like Fire Would in 2014.</p> <p>There’s no doubt that Bailey and The Saints changed Brisbane forever. People around the world who love music know Brisbane exists because of The Saints, The Go-Betweens and bands like them.</p> <p>Peter Milton Walsh (The Apartments) was one of many who benefited from The Saints legacy, "They blazed through our young lives like comets. Showed so many what was possible – that you could write your way out of town."</p> <p>“Without The Saints,” Mark Callaghan of The Riptides/Gang Gajang told me, “we probably wouldn’t have started. ” </p> <p>"They just made it all seem doable. It was like, ‘Well, they’re from Brisbane!’ So we started our first band, and at our first gig we covered (I’m) Stranded! We even took a photo of the abandoned house in Petrie Terrace with (I’m) Stranded painted on the wall. But it never crossed our minds to stand in front of this. It would be sacrilege, you know? And we were trying to work out a way that we could get it off the wall intact, because we recognised it was a historical document."</p> <p>Chris Bailey isn’t the first of our creative children to leave this life behind and move on into memory. With their passing, like the returning comet, the past is freshly illuminated, allowing us to look back at our young lives. Back when the future was broad in front of us, urged on by voices like Bailey’s to open our eyes and see the world.</p> <p>And Bailey’s was a unique voice. Kenny Gormley (The Cruel Sea) remembers him singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYA5WdP47Y0">Ghost Ships,</a> "But ah, I’ll never ever forget seeing Chris pick that shanty, alone at sea in a crowded room, holding us sway, wet face drunk and shining, quiet and stilled in storm, cracked voiced with closed eye and open heart. And that was Bailey, a gentleman with the mad soul of an Irish convict poet.“</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-gentleman-with-the-mad-soul-of-an-irish-convict-poet-remembering-chris-bailey-and-the-blazing-comet-that-was-the-saints-181059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Music

Placeholder Content Image

Ghislaine Maxwell conviction in jeopardy over juror's admission

<p>After a highly publicised trial that saw Ghislaine Maxwell convicted for sex-trafficking, the guilty verdict is now in jeopardy. </p> <p>After the trial ended, a juror made comments to the media about how discussing their own experience with sexual abuse with the other jurors helped them reach a guilty verdict, and ultimately affected the jury's deliberations. </p> <p>Both prosecutors and defense attorneys raised concerns over this revelation, as experts told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.insider.com/ghislaine-maxwell-jurors-could-face-charges-if-lied-under-oath-2022-1" target="_blank">Insider</a> that it's possible Maxwell's conviction could be thrown out as a result of the juror's comments to the media. </p> <p>It is also possible that the juror in question could face legal consequences such as perjury charges, if US District Judge Alison Nathan determines he was untruthful during the pre-trial procedure. </p> <p>The <span>voir dire is the procedure that happens before a trial commences to determine if each prospective juror is suitable to serve objectively. </span></p> <p><span>The juror told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/some-ghislaine-maxwell-jurors-initially-doubted-accusers-juror-says-2022-01-05/">Reuters</a> that they "flew through" the pre-trial questionnaire and didn't recall being asked about any previous experience with sexual assault, as they said they would've answered the question honestly. </span></p> <p><span>However, court records show that the questionnaire asked all prospective Maxwell jurors, "Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse or sexual assault?"</span></p> <p><span>Following this revelation, a second juror from the Maxwell trial came forward and said they also shared their experiences of sexual assault in the jury deliberations, and potentially swaying the guilty verdict. </span></p> <p><span>In the hours after the news of the jurors' own experiences came to light, Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers have called for a retrial on her case. </span></p> <p><span>Maxwell was found guilty on five out of six sex-trafficking and conspiracy counts, and is facing up to 65 years in jail.</span></p> <p><span>Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in July 2020 after her involvement with disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein came to light. </span></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Donations POUR in for man wrongly convicted for murder

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After US man Kevin Strickland </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/no-compensation-after-43-years-of-wrongful-imprisonment" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">was released</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from jail 43 years after his wrongful conviction in a triple murder, a flood of donations have swept in to help him rebuild his life.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kevin-strickland-after-wrongful-conviction" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">fundraiser</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> set up for him in June had received over $USD 400,000 ($AUD 560,000) at the time of his release, and donations keep coming.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many supporters were outraged that the 62-year-old wouldn’t receive any compensation for his time in prison from the state of Missouri.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Today, Kevin Strickland is finally home, 43 years after being ripped away from his life and family. It took not just a village, but a movement--all of you-- to bring him home.</p> — Tricia Rojo Bushnell (@tcita) <a href="https://twitter.com/tcita/status/1463362164920623104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Because he wasn’t exonerated through the use of DNA evidence, Mr Strickland doesn’t qualify for wrongful imprisonment payments.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Within three days of his release, donors had contributed another $600,000 to his fundraiser, totalling $USD 1.016 million ($AUD 1.42 million) .</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The organisers thanked donors on Tuesday, confirming that all the money raised would be received by Mr Strickland.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Thank you all for your support! All funds go directly to Mr Strickland, who the state of Missouri won’t provide a dime to for the 43 years they stole from him,” they wrote.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Strickland has maintained his innocence since he was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 1979. He has said that he was at home watching television at the time of the three deaths, which happened when he was 18 years old.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The fundraiser, set up by the Midwest Innocence Project, has been collecting donations for Mr Strickland since June, when the organisation began campaigning for his release.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They have said he would need help paying for basic living costs once he was free.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I can’t begin to say all the things I am thankful for,” Mr Strickland </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/travel/americas/almost-us1-million-raised-for-man-wrongly-convicted-of-1979-triple-homicide-c-4711022" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> as he left prison.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: GoFundMe</span></em></p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Foreign ship convicted of dumping garbage on Great Barrier Reef

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>A foreign shipping company and the chief officer of one of its vessels have been convicted for dumping food scraps on the World-Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef.</p> <p>The Liberian bulk carrier Iron Gate dumped the equivalent of 120-litres of a garbage bin filled with food waste into the reef in 2018.</p> <p>The chief officer approved the discharge of garbage between Brisbane and Gladstone.</p> <p>Fines against both parties totalled $6,600 and were persecuted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).</p> <p>“Australians and tourists alike visit Lady Elliot Island to swim with manta rays and turtles – not blended food waste from merchant ships,” ASMA general manager of operations Allan Schwartz said.</p> <p>“We take a zero-tolerance approach to pollution from shipping and that is why, after detecting this breach during a routine inspection of Iron Gate in 2018, we detained the ship and later charged the chief officer and company, Kairasu Shipping S.A.”</p> <p>He said the conviction would impact the company's reputation.</p> <p>“Dumping garbage into the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef isn’t something you want on your professional record,” he said.</p> <p>“These convictions should serve as a reminder to other industry operators that in Australia, we make sure polluters pay.”</p> </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

Placeholder Content Image

BREAKING: George Pell wins High Court appeal against child sex abuse convictions

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>Cardinal George Pell will be released from prison after Australia’s High Court quashed his child sexual abuse convictions.</p> <p>The decision has been made less than a month after the High Court of Australia heard two days of intense legal arguments from the Cardinal’s Lawyers and Victorian prosecutors.</p> <p>The ruling was handed down by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel in an almost empty High Court registry in Brisbane due to social-distancing measures introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>A statement was released by the High Court of Australia and has been published by<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/apr/07/cardinal-george-pell-high-court-decision-appeal-latest-verdict-live-news" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</em></p> <p>“Today, the High Court granted special leave to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria and unanimously allowed the appeal.</p> <p>“The High Court found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant’s guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place.”</p> <p>“The Court held that, on the assumption that the jury had assessed the complainant’s evidence as thoroughly credible and reliable, the evidence of the opportunity witnesses nonetheless required the jury, acting rationally, to have entertained a reasonable doubt as to the applicant’s guilt in relation to the offences involved in both alleged incidents. With respect to each of the applicant’s convictions, there was, consistently with the words the Court used in Chidiac v The Queen (1991) 171 CLR 432 at 444 and M v The Queen (1994) 181 CLR 487 at 494, “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof”.</p> <p>Victorian Police have released a statement following the court’s decision.</p> <p>“We respect the decision of the High Court in this matter and continue to provide support to those complainants involved. Victoria Police remains committed to investigating sexual assault offences and providing justice for victims no matter how many years have passed. We would also like to acknowledge the tireless work on this case by Taskforce Sano investigators over many years.”</p> <p>Cardinal Pell, 78, has been serving a jail sentence of six years after he was convicted in 2018 of abusing two choirboys in the 1990’s when he was the archbishop of Melbourne.</p> </div> </div> </div>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Convicted paedophile says he should remain priest after sexually abusing 34 boys

<p>Convicted clerical sex abuser Vincent Ryan said he should remain a priest after decades of abusing children.</p> <p>In the new <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/convicted-paedophile-vincent-ryan-thinks-he-should-remain-priest/12059530">ABC</a> documentary series <em>Revelation</em>, the Catholic priest said there was no reason he should not retain his role.</p> <p>“It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d have to be a very serious reason, unless I’m stopped by authority, for me to make that decision and at this moment I don’t see it.”</p> <p>The interview was filmed before Ryan was sentenced in <a href="https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6155389/monster-of-merewether-goes-back-to-jail-for-another-three-years-and-three-months/">2019</a> to three years and three months in jail for the sexual abuse of two altar boys at the Junction and Cessnock. He has previously served 14 years in jail for the abuse of 34 boys from the 1970s to the 1990s, including a child who was <a href="http://www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/82">abused more than 200 times from the age of 10</a> over a period of six years.</p> <p>After he was released in 2010, Ryan remained a priest and was allowed to perform the Catholic mass in private.</p> <p>Ryan told the <em>ABC </em>he confessed that he was sexually assaulting boys to his priest, who gave him a penance of “three Hail Marys and a decade of the Rosary”.</p> <p>“I don’t know the exact words, but they would have been aware that I … that I had offended against children because … I can remember one priest saying, ‘you’ll go to jail if you don’t stop this’,” Ryan said.</p> <p>According to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2019/06/24/inq-pathology-predator-paedophile-priest-vince-ryan/" target="_blank"><em>Crikey</em></a>, Ryan informed at least two other church officials in the 1970s that he was a paedophile.</p> <p>Ryan blamed his immediate superiors at the Catholic church for not monitoring him more closely after they learned of his crimes. “The church still was in a fortress, defending itself against all these horrible [people] wanting to drag it down.”</p> <p>Peter Dorn, who was abused by Ryan as a primary school student in Maitland in the 1970s, questioned the church’s refusal to remove the sexual abuser from priesthood.</p> <p>“How does the church want somebody like that? How did they say that’s a person acting on behalf of God?” Dorn said. “They say they have acknowledged it, but if they still recognise him as a priest, you know that’s disgraceful.”</p> <p>When asked if he could be forgiven for his decades of sexual abuse of children, he said, “By God, most certainly.”</p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

George Pell’s bid for freedom will change in six minutes

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>The full bench of the High Court has set aside two days to hear the case of George Pell, as his lawyers believe that the guilt, reputation and legacy of the influential clergyman will turn on six minutes.</p> <p>Pell was found guilty in 2018 of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s.</p> <p>Cardinal Pell’s legal team has drawn the court’s attention to the greatest doubt over Pell’s conviction for child sex offences, which the legal team have submitted for its final argument.</p> <p>Their final argument is when would the archbishop of Melbourne have found himself alone in the priests’ sacristy with two choirboys for the five to six minutes required to assault them?</p> <p>Another aspect to their final argument is asking where were the seven altar servers who file into the sacristy to bow to the crucifix after the completion of mass?</p> <p>These questions go to the heart of the issues before the High Court, which is whether it was open to the jury on the basis of evidence provided to find Pell guilty.</p> <p>There are three possible outcomes of the final appeal.</p> <p>The first outcome is that the court may refuse special leave to appeal, despite clearing its calendar to deal with Pell.</p> <p>The second outcome is that the court may grant leave and dismiss the appeal.</p> <p>In either of these outcomes, Pell would remain a convicted child sex offender and serve the remainder of his minimum three year and eight month prison sentence.</p> <p>The third outcome is that the High Court may grant special leave to appeal and remove Pell’s conviction.</p> <p>La Trobe University law professor Patrick Keyzer believes that the second outcome is the most likely outcome.</p> <p>“Even though this case is about a very important person and a notoriously significant decision, it is nevertheless still a case about a jury verdict of guilt where a court of appeal has found no legal reason for questioning that verdict,’’ Professor Keyzer told The Age and<span> </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/george-pell-s-final-bid-for-freedom-rests-on-six-missing-minutes-20200310-p548pp.html" target="_blank">The Sydney Morning Herald</a>.</p> <p>“The Chief Judge of the County Court heard the criminal trial and it was for the jury to determine whether Pell was guilty. The jury performed its role.</p> <p>“A majority of the Court of Appeal very carefully went through the trial judgment, found no errors of law and concluded the verdict was open to the jury on the facts.</p> <p>“There are hundreds of jury trials going on in Australia every year. We have held on to a tradition of jury trial in many jurisdictions for many types of trial because there is a strong belief that people have a significant role to play in making that assessment of guilt."</p> <p>No one expects the third outcome to happen as early as Wednesday, but even if it does, Pell won’t be there to see it as he is in a high security unit of Barwon Prison.</p> </div> </div> </div>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Imprisoning the innocent: The causes of wrongful convictions in Australia

<p><em>It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’.</em></p> <p>These words of 18<sup>th</sup> century English jurist William Blackstone resonate just as loudly today as they did back then in relation to the magnitude of the injustice created by imprisoning innocent people.</p> <p>But what do we know about the causes of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/wrongful-convictions-in-australia/">false convictions in Australia</a>, and what can be done to achieve justice for innocent people who are languishing behind bars?</p> <p><strong>What is a wrongful conviction?</strong></p> <p>A ‘wrongful conviction’ occurs when a person is convicted of crime they did not commit.</p> <p>Such convictions amount to a ‘miscarriage of justice’, although that term encompasses a far broader range of circumstances than just a wrongful conviction, including the absence of a fair trial and the admission of unfairly prejudicial evidence.</p> <p><strong>Can the percentage of wrongful convictions be estimated?</strong></p> <p>The short answer is no – it is impossible to give a realistic estimate of innocent people who are convicted, despite <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228207991_Innocents_Convicted_An_Empirically_Justified_Factual_Wrongful_Conviction_Rate">various researchers in the United States and other nations</a> attempting to do so.</p> <p>This is due to a range of factors, not the least of which is that many wrongful convictions will never come to light, with those sentenced to imprisonment languishing behind bars despite their innocence.</p> <p>Other factors are that people who are innocent may nevertheless plead guilty – whether to the charges they are facing or to downgraded charges – in order to avoid the risk of a lengthier conviction after a hearing or trial.</p> <p>Some defendants may be pressured into pleading guilty by their lawyers or as a result of their inability to afford a lengthy hearing or trial. Others may simply wish to ‘get it over with’ and avoid a trial and all the associated stress, anxiety, delay and uncertainty it causes to themselves and their families.</p> <p>Others may fall victim of inadequate legal representation during the hearing or trial, or the admission of false or mistaken evidence such as <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/it-was-him-problems-with-identification-evidence/">notoriously unreliable identification evidence</a>.</p> <p>So it is not sensible or realistic to give estimate the number or percentage of people convicted despite the fact they innocent.</p> <p><strong>Notable cases of wrongful convictions in Australia</strong></p> <p>That said, there are <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FlinLawJl/2015/6.pdf">at least seventy high-profile, reported cases of wrongful convictions in Australia</a>, from <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/wrongful-convictions-in-australia/">Lindsay Chamberlain, to the Mickelberg brother, John Button and Andrew Mallard</a> – all of whom were eventually released from prison (except Peter Mickelberg who died behind bars) after it became clear they should not have been convicted in the first place.</p> <p><strong>Causes of Wrongful Conviction</strong></p> <p>While the reasons for wrongful convictions are often complex and multi-faceted, the <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2005/26.html">research of Professors Juliette Langdon and Paul Wilson</a> into reported cases in the United States suggests that:</p> <ul> <li>50% were signified by over-zealous and/or unprofessional police investigations,</li> <li>44% were based on profiling and weak circumstantial evidence,</li> <li>22% of cases exhibited incompetence in the investigation, with 12.5% of those involving criminal conduct by police, and</li> <li>22% involved discredited expert evidence.</li> </ul> <p>The researchers found that a single focus, or ‘tunnel vision’ in the investigation process led to innocent people being convicted.</p> <p>Professors Keith Findley and Michael S Scott from the University of Wisconsin similarly found tunnel vision to be a significant contributing factor, describing it as where investigators “focus on a suspect, select and filter the evidence that will ‘build a case’ for conviction, while ignoring the suppressing evidence that points away from guilt”.</p> <p>However, <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/how-reliable-is-identification-evidence/">unreliable evidence such as identification evidence</a> – especially where it relates to the identification of minority groups – and the misleading presentation of forensic evidence have also been identified as significant contributing factors.</p> <p>Indeed, the majority of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/how-the-innocence-project-is-helping-those-wrongly-convicted-of-a-crime/">the more than 300 people exonerated through the Innocence Project</a> in the United States were set free after they were convicted solely or primarily on identification evidence, when DNA evidence from the crime scene later established they were not the perpetrators.</p> <p>Some of these people spent decades behind bars before their release, and a number were on death row.</p> <p><strong>What can be done?</strong></p> <p>On a broad level, it is fundamental that the law maintains the presumption of innocence – which is a fundamental principle that has been <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/lawyers-must-fight-for-human-rights/">significantly curtailed by successive state and federal governments in Australia</a>.</p> <p>The right to a lawyer in criminal cases – <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/would-you-rather-be-suspected-of-a-crime-in-the-us-or-australia/">something which is guaranteed throughout the United States but not in Australia</a> – is also important in ensuring that defendants are not left to represent themselves against a well-funded, professional prosecution, and do not feel compelled to plead guilty for financial reasons.</p> <p>The United States has a robust Innocence Project which reviews selected cases of alleged wrongful imprisonment. And while there are <a href="http://www.bohii.net/">small Innocence Projects in Australia</a>, they have nowhere near the same resources.</p> <p>Funding Innocence Projects could provide an avenue for those who have been wrongly convicted and exhausted their regular avenues of appeal to achieve justice.</p> <p>England, Wales and Northern Ireland have a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) whose role is to review the cases of alleged wrongful convictions, investigate them and, where appropriate, act to ensure justice.</p> <p>A <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/australian-body-needed-to-investigate-wrongful-convictions/">similar body in Australia</a> would also assist in promoting justice for those who have been wrongly convicted and exhausted their appeals.</p> <p><strong>Been wrongly convicted?</strong></p> <p>If you or a love-one has been wrongly convicted of a criminal or traffic offence, call Sydney Criminal Lawyers anytime on (02) 9261 8881 to arrange a free first conference with an <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/services/appeals/">expert appeal lawyer</a> who can advise you of your appeal rights and the best way forward.</p> <p>If your loved-one is in prison, we offer <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/fixed-fees/">fixed fees for prison visits</a> throughout New South Wales, as well as conferences via audio-visual link.</p> <p><em>Written by Ugur Nedim and Jarryd Bartle. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/imprisoning-the-innocent-the-causes-of-wrongful-convictions-in-australia/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a> </em></p>

Travel Tips

Placeholder Content Image

Sarah Ristevski reveals why she still supports her convicted father Borce

<p>Sarah Ristevski has spoken publicly for the first time since her father Borce was imprisoned for the murder of her mother Karen.</p> <p>Speaking to Liz Hayes on <em><a rel="noopener" href="https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/karen-ristevski-daughter-sarah-interview-why-supports-father-borce/51ea4767-9a23-48fa-a5fc-0db21a0d1909" target="_blank">60 Minutes</a></em>, Sarah said she asked her father whether he had been involved in the 2016 death of his wife.</p> <p>“I asked him. I asked if he’d had anything to do with it,” the 24-year-old said. “He said ‘no’.”</p> <p>Sarah said she could not comprehend her father’s decision to enter a guilty plea after maintaining he had nothing to do with his wife’s death for three years.</p> <p>“Even though he’s pleaded guilty I find it hard to comprehend that he is guilty,” Sarah said.</p> <p>“He’s my father. I have one parent left... I loved him before, I love him now and I’ll love him in 11 years when he’s home.</p> <p>“I don’t know what to believe. I don’t know. I just hate thinking about what’s happened and I’d rather think about the better times.</p> <p>“I think it’s tiring. I just feel like I can’t move forward if I’m stuck in the past. I think I’m not emotionally ready to be there.”</p> <p>The body of Karen Ristevski was found in a bushland north of Melbourne in January 2017, eight months after she was reported missing from the couple’s Avondale Heights home.</p> <p>Last year, Borce pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 13 years in prison with a non-parole period of 10 years.</p> <p>Borce has never disclosed how or why he killed his wife of 27 years.</p> <p>Prior to Borce’s sentencing, Sarah submitted a letter of reference in favour of her father describing him as <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/wife-killer-borce-ristevski-given-glowing-character-reference-by-daughter">“loving”, “sympathetic” and “protective”</a>.</p>

News

Our Partners