STORY: "David Eastman loses bid to have judge removed," by reporter Christopher Knaus published by the ACT Times on April 24, 2015.
GIST: "David Eastman failed a bid to remove the
judge from sitting on his application to stay his second trial. David Eastman has failed to force a judge to stand aside from
deciding whether his second trial for Colin Winchester's murder will go
ahead. Eastman tried to have Acting Justice Anthony Whealy recuse
himself because of his links to the man who ran the prosecution at the
original 1995 trial. That prosecutor, Michael Adams, QC, went on
to become a NSW Supreme Court judge and worked for about 10 years with
Acting Justice Whealy, the man deciding Eastman's fate now. Eastman
never alleged that the pair's relationship would influence Acting
Justice Whealy in any way, but said members of the public might perceive
bias. That prompted Eastman to launch a bid to remove Acting Justice Whealy from sitting on his application to stay his second trial. The
stay application might require Acting Justice Whealy to make findings
about the conduct of his former colleague leading up to and during
Eastman's 1995 trial. But Acting Justice Whealy dismissed the
application on Friday afternoon, saying he was satisfied that the
"fair-minded lay observer" would have no reasonable apprehension that he
would be biased......... Mr Adams was cleared last year of any improper conduct during the inquiry into Eastman's conviction. Acting
Justice Whealy also handed down his reasons for upholding the claims of
federal and Victorian police to keep aspects of sensitive evidence
secret."
http://www.watoday.com.au/act-news/david-eastman-loses-bid-to-have-judge-removed-20150424-1msj1q.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: