Category Archives: Australia/New Zealand

Monday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Mark Godsey | 1 comment

It looks like the Scottish government will make an exception to the privacy law and will release the 800-page report showing that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, known as the Lockerbie Bomber, was likely innocent
Wrongful convictions one of Florida’s greatest shames
Innocence Network UK client Gary Critchley from Birmingham, England enjoys first days of freedom after serving 31 years in prison for a murder he claims he did not commit. While Gary was released on parole rather than exonerated, INUK will continue fighting for his exoneration.
Exoneree Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in Australia raising awareness of wrongful convictions
Nice article about the Michael Wayne Hash habeas win and the persistence of Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Director Shawn Ambrust that led to the win
New Zealand’s controversial David Bain appears on TV3’s 60 Minutes to talk about life after exoneration and further proclaim his innocence
Former Justice of the Florida Supreme Court speaks out and says Florida should require juror unanimity in death sentences
More on New York governor Cuomo’s refusal to include innocence reforms in his DNA database expansion bill
Amnesty International report on arrests and detentions of innocents in Iran to crush political dissent
American Bar Association released its report on the state of the death penalty in Missouri

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Posted in Australia/New Zealand, Capital punishment, Events, United Kingdom

Sunday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Mark Godsey | Leave a comment

Corrupt and incompetent judiciary in the Bahamas leads to wrongful convictions
Exoneree Terrill Swift feels mugged by website mugshot.com because it refuses to remove his photo and conviction information despite his DNA exoneration last year
More on the rise and fall of embattled Durham, NC DA Tracey Cline
The political culture regarding wrongful convictions has changed for the better in Chicago
Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada working on case of wrongfully convicted man in New Zealand
Although he has already had his conviction overturned and gained his freedom, Kerry Max Cook seeks new DNA testing to conclusively clear his name
New Mexico governor vetoes expungement bill that would have made it easier for the wrongfully convicted to clear their names
Freed but scarred, exoneree Fernando Bermudez attempts to adjust to life on the outside
Tickets on sale for Innocence Project of Florida’s first annual gala
Downstate Illinois Innocence Project director Larry Golden talks about the death penalty in Missouri and Illinois

Saturday’s Quick Clicks….

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Mark Godsey | 2 comments

New case tests direction of Cook County (Chicago) D.A. Anita Alvarez’ new Conviction Integrity Unit and stated resolve to openly re-examine old cases.
New New York Times article on why innocent people falsely confess
Innocence Project (Cardoza) files petition in Missouri seeking exoneration of George Allen based on DNA test results and a confession of another
Questions in Australia as to whether baby Azaria Chamberlain’s death was caused by her mother (who spent 3 years in prison for the baby’s murder) or a Dingo (Australian wild dog). More about the mob mentality that sent the mother to prison for (perhaps) the acts of a dog.
The False Confession Industrial Complex
Science–rather than prosecutors–should be the client of crime labs
Debra Brown, exoneree from Utah, attempts to reconnect with her family after release from prison
An editorial arguing that old arson cases should be re-examined in light of recent advances in science
Dallas County DA Craig Watkins says the Texas death penalty should be reviewed after 20 wrongful conviction cases in his office
European Union calls out Belarus, only state in Europe still employing capital punishment. The EU’s statement cites concern over wrongful convictions as a ground for questioning Belarus’ use of death penalty
DNA testing ordered in Michigan in a 1988 murder case

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Posted in Australia/New Zealand, Capital punishment, Editorials/Opinion, False confessions, Junk science

Newest Australian Miscarriages of Justice Campaign Group

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carole McCartney | 1 comment

Perth, Western Australia will be home to an international conference of legal and forensic experts next month, hosted by ‘Justice WA’ – a new campaign group that is hoping to take on its first case next year and wants to establish a criminal cases committee to investigate miscarriages of justice. Read more on the conference here…. You can visit JusticeWA website here…

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Posted in Australia/New Zealand, Events, Project Spotlights

Gordon Wood exonerated in Australian murder case

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carole McCartney | 3 comments

Gordon Wood, convicted in 2008 of murdering his girlfriend in 1995 by throwing her from a cliff, has had his conviction overturned in Sydney, after serving 3 1/2 years of his 13 year sentence. The judges at appeal decided that there was sufficient doubt about the expert evidence in the case, that Wood should win his appeal and he was freed later that day. Read more about the appeal here….

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Posted in Australia/New Zealand, Exonerations

Friday’s Quick Clicks….

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Mark Godsey | 1 comment

Many believe wrongful convictions are sometimes caused by pressure on the cops to solve high-profile cases. This pressure has caused the D.C. police to come up with some creative accounting to claim a 94% closure rate in homicide cases.
Major League Baseball’s MVP Ryan Braun exonerated from a wrongful suspension for using steroids…Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says Braun is an innocent man, although MLB execs say Braun is guilty and vehemently disagree with the ruling. Do MLB execs have tunnel vision?
After an exoneration and release in Bangladesh, the society struggles with questions like how did it happen, and will the exoneree be compensated? Sound familiar?
All remember Mike Nifong, the infamous D.A. from Durham, NC in charge of the Duke Lacrosse Case. His successor Tracey Cline is now under fire for allegedly being overzealous, attacking a sitting judge, and not always having the facts to back up her allegations. More here.
The State of Utah has appealed the exoneration of Debra Brown, a woman exonerated last year by the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center.
Wrongful conviction in the States is impacted by the trend of mass incarceration. Here’s an interesting new article from The New Yorker attempting to explain America’s mass incarceration.
A retrospective on a famous case of alleged wrongful conviction in Australia of a man named Darryl Beamish.
Apparently in Kathmandu, like in the U.S., there’s rarely punishment for public officials like judges whose conduct leads to gross miscarriages of justice.
The disciplinary charges against a Texas attorney for making millions representing exonerees in state statutory compensation claims (my understanding is that the state statutory claims involved not much more than filing paperwork to obtained undisputed amounts) was dismissed. The disciplinary committee plans to appeal, calling the contingency-type fee “unconscionable” in this type of case. We have, unfortunately, had this problem in Ohio as well.

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Posted in Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Compensation/Exoneree compensation, Inquisitional and adversarial systems of justice, Police conduct (good and bad), Prosecutorial conduct (good and bad)

Juror urges NZ justice minister to refuse compensation to exoneree

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Carole McCartney | Leave a comment

A juror has written to New Zealand’s justice minister urging him not to pay compensation to David Bain, an exoneree, after explaining that they had serious concerns about the conduct of the trial and in particular, the conduct of the jury deliberations. Read more here….

Wednesday’s Quick Clicks…

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Mark Godsey | Leave a comment

Senator in Mississipi seeks constitutional amendment to limit Governor’s pardon power in serious crimes such as rape or murder only to cases where clear evidence of innocence exists, such as DNA testing results.
An archive of articles about the use of torture in Chicago during police interrogations …
While forensic labs in the UK are being shut, police in a jurisdiction in Canada are seeking a new $15 million forensic lab due in part to wrongful convictions cases caused by faulty forensics…
Albright College in Pennsylvania is hosting several innocence-related events in the next month, including a talk by exoneree Ray Krone..
Accounting for bad prosecutors….
Here’s an MSNBC story about a new documentary film being released about the alleged wrongful conviction of Jon-Adrian Velazquez…
On Friday, an appeals court in Australia will hand down its decision in an alleged wrongful conviction of Gordon Wood for the murder of his girlfriend in 1995.

New Zealand considers alternatives to jury trial

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Carole McCartney

This gallery contains 1 photos.

The Law Commission of New Zealand have announce an online public consultation looking at alternatives to the jury trial: Alternative models for prosecuting and trying criminal cases. Some of the ‘alternatives’ posited include lone judges sitting with ‘semi-professional’ jurors. Some … Continue reading →

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