My first murder trial was back in 1999. My client was serving a prison sentence for drug charges at Goulburn Correctional Centre. One of his fellow inmates was a leader of the notorious Vietnamese ‘5T’ gang, which had a lot of power in prison at that time. The 5T leader was serving a life-sentence for… Read more »
There is some confusion about the standard of proof in traffic cases, and justifiably so. Much of the confusion arises from the personal experiences of our readers, who receive traffic infringements and are then given conflicting advice. Many are adamant that they are innocent. Some point out that police relied upon guesswork or unscrupulous practices… Read more »
Hundreds of people every year end up on the receiving end of unfair or unlawful decisions by public bodies and government agencies. These decisions can have a devastating impact on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, and can be incredibly difficult, time-consuming and frustrating to rectify. Administrative law and constitutional law can be treacherous to… Read more »
Legal aid funding has been dwindling since 1997; but this year, the cuts are really being felt. According to Fairfax media, defence funding has been cut for at least 12 serious criminal cases in the last few months. The budget has cut millions from Legal Aid Services, as well as from Indigenous Services. This means… Read more »
In criminal law, causation essentially describes a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between the defendant’s actions and the harm suffered by the alleged victim. In order to establish a defendant’s guilt, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that his or her actions were a ‘substantial and significant cause’ of the harm. This means that although… Read more »
As well as governing how people are treated when they are alive, the law in NSW has a number of provisions in place that restrict how bodies can be treated after death. Indecently interfering with a dead human body, also known as indecently interfering with a corpse, comes under the offence of misconduct with regard… Read more »
Twenty years ago, sixteen-year-old Japanese exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori was enjoying the different culture in Louisiana, USA. Together with his exchange buddy, he was dressed in a tuxedo and on his way to a Halloween party. But rather than attend the party, they accidentally walked into the front yard of the wrong house. According to… Read more »
One can imagine that taxi driving can be a frustrating job at times, having to deal with drunk and belligerent people –cleaning up their mess. In fact, a survey of 100 taxi drivers in Adelaide found that 84 of them had a drunk person throw-up inside their taxis. However, it may also be one of… Read more »
In December 2012, elderly man Daniel Dunn killed his wife by hitting her with a hammer at their home. The South Australian Supreme Court recently found that Mr Dunn was ‘mentally incompetent of murder’ as he was suffering from a major depressive disorder with psychotic features at the time of the attack. Dunn was ordered… Read more »
The criminal justice system in Australia is based around the concept of impartiality and getting a fair trial. Although this sounds great in principle, there are some circumstances that have the potential to place the integrity of the judicial system in question. If you are facing a trial for a criminal matter and you feel… Read more »
