Across 69 pages of their meticulously detailed attraction judgment, three Court of Appeal judges detailed the the reason why former airline pilot Gregory Lynn will face a retrial for the alleged 2020 homicide of lacking camper Carol Clay, 73.
Lynn was discovered responsible of murdering Clay on June 25, 2024, and was later sentenced to 32 years’ jail with a non-parole interval of 24 years.
On Thursday, the Caroline Springs father was granted a retrial after the Court of Appeal discovered the 59-year-old had suffered a considerable miscarriage of justice due to the way in which the prosecution had carried out the trial.
He had sought go away to attraction each his conviction and sentence.
In his attraction in opposition to conviction, Lynn raised 4 grounds of attraction. Grounds one and two contended that he had suffered a considerable miscarriage of justice due to the way in which during which the prosecution had carried out the trial.
The courtroom upheld the primary two grounds of attraction, concluding that the conduct of the prosecution had “compromised the equity of the trial”.
Court of Appeal president Karin Emerton mentioned: “Given the intense nature of the homicide cost, and the courtroom’s conclusion that the proof has not been compromised and the unfairness of the primary trial won’t permeate a brand new trial, the courtroom has decided that the pursuits of justice require Lynn to face trial once more for the homicide of Clay.”
The judgment famous two central points, together, that led to their choice to quash Lynn’s homicide conviction and order a contemporary Supreme Court trial.
This included the prosecution making submissions to the jury that challenged the credibility of the proof given by Lynn with out ever placing these issues to him.
This occurred, the attraction judges mentioned, regardless of repeated objections by defence counsel and warnings from the trial choose.
In doing so, Emerton mentioned the prosecution breached a rule of equity.
Emerton mentioned that in its closing deal with, the Crown unfairly attacked the reliability and credibility of its personal firearms and power mark professional witness, Paul Griffiths. This occurred, she mentioned, with out having put the related issues to Griffiths to provide him an opportunity to reply.
Griffiths was the prosecution witness who carried out gunshot trajectory checks based mostly on Lynn’s account of what had occurred when Clay was shot.
“That method wrongly invited the jury to disregard proof which was beneficial to Lynn, and represented a major departure from the obligations of equity,” Emerton mentioned.
In arguing for a retrial earlier this yr, defence barrister Dermot Dann, KC, mentioned prosecutors had damaged the foundations that govern truthful conduct of legal trials “so thick and quick”, he was unable to maintain up.
These breaches, Dann mentioned, might need led the Supreme Court jury down an “impermissible pathway” in arriving at an unsafe responsible verdict over the killing of Clay within the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020. Lynn was discovered not responsible of murdering Clay’s companion, Russell Hill.
Other high-profile instances during which instances have been appealed embody the late Cardinal George Pell, who had his case thrown out by the High Court. Underworld determine Tony Mokbel lately had one in every of his convictions thrown out and one dismissed. He was granted a retrial on a 3rd.
A choice on whether or not a retrial will go forward in Mokbel’s case is anticipated to be made subsequent week.
Other instances that sought retrials earlier than being granted stays on their instances or having the Office of Public Prosecutions abandon the case embody Jason Roberts and Andrew Baker. Baker confronted two failed trials over the dying of Sarah Gatt, whose physique was present in a shower.
Nick Papas, KC, who has labored as each a defence barrister and a prosecutor, mentioned that in any retrial, the prosecution would be capable to file totally different or new expenses.
“When the Crown revisits the case, it could change it in the event that they wish to, relying on which proof it leads. But there are limitations,” he mentioned.
Papas harassed that retrials have been run-of-the-mill within the authorized world, however a retrial might be delayed in high-profile instances to permit jurors to have extra time to have the ability to neglect about what got here out of the primary trial.
“Appellant courts are right here to make sure elementary errors that led to potential errors may be reviewed, and that method we resist and keep away from the potential of somebody being sentenced to time period imprisonment for an offence they didn’t commit,” Papas mentioned.
“We’re all the time for truthful trials, however persons are human, judges are human, barristers are human and errors are made. That’s why there are appellate courts.”
Greg Barnes, SC, a spokesperson for the Australian Lawyers Alliance, mentioned a retrial successfully meant the prosecution in opposition to an individual began once more.
When requested if there might be difficulties in an accused particular person getting a good retrial if the case was high-profile or obtained vital media consideration, Barnes mentioned juries have been all the time given strict instruction from a trial choose to disregard any reporting or information of the case.
“Cases might already be high-profile earlier than a primary trial, like we noticed within the Pell case. The situation of publicity is a matter no matter whether or not it’s a retrial or preliminary trial,” Barnes mentioned.
“Jurors are strictly instructed to place that out of their thoughts.”
On the second to final web page of their judgment, the attraction judges addressed the query on whether or not a cost of manslaughter may exchange homicide.
“The director [of public prosecutions] was requested some particular questions … about how a retrial can be framed. Specifically … whether or not manslaughter can be superior as a substitute for homicide,” they mentioned.
“The director responded … that these points can’t be recognized prematurely, noting that whether or not manslaughter is left will probably be a matter for the trial choose and the events on the time.”
Lynn was remanded to reappear within the Supreme Court on January 28. It is unclear if he’ll apply for bail earlier than any retrial.
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