Scott Watson: New Zealand: Court allows reporter Mike White to interview him in prison - over objections of the correctional authorities; (Judge's decision to allow reporter to interview man alleging a miscarriage of justice (over the objections of correctional authorities) draws attention to a troubling case - which this Blog will henceforth follow; HL);

STORY: "Scott Watson wins legal action over prison interview," by reporter Thomas Mead, published by  3News on June 4, 2015.

GIST: "Convicted double-murderer Scott Watson may be interviewed by a journalist behind bars for the first time in 17 years following a High Court decision released today. Watson, 43, took legal action against the Department of Corrections following an interview ban which prevented him from meeting North & South reporter Mike White in person. He was jailed in 1999 for the murders of Olivia Hope, 17, and Ben Smart, 21, after a New Year's Eve party in the Marlborough Sounds, but has always upheld his innocence. He has exhausted all of his appeal rights and was recently denied a royal prerogative of mercy. Justice Rachel Dunningham's ruling found a previous decision by the chief executive of Corrections to block Mr White from the prison was unreasonable. The department had argued the ban was to prevent harm to the victims' families and suggested Watson could still contact the reporter over the phone or through the mail. But Justice Dunningham found the reasoning was flawed, as a letter-based interview would still theoretically have a negative effect on the families.........Overall, the judge quashed the decision and ordered the chief executive to reconsider. "Where a prisoner wishes to raise an allegation of miscarriage of justice when all other avenues of appeal have been exhausted, that is to be treated as an exceptional circumstance," her decision reads."

The entire decision can be found at:

http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/scott-watson-wins-legal-action-over-prison-interview-2015060411#axzz3bqX1B0rd

See Wikipedia account:  "Scott Watson (born 28 June 1971) is a New Zealander who was convicted in May 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on his boat Blade on 1 January 1998. The bodies of Smart and Hope have never been found. A sonar search of the entrance to Tory channel, an area of interest to the investigating police, found "there is no indication that the missing remains of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope are present or visible on the sea bed inside the search area".^[1] Watson is serving a life sentence with a non-parole period of 17 years.^[2] ......... Questions have been raised about the manner of the police investigation, notably by Mike Kalaugher, who in 2001 published a book which was critical of the police methods used to obtain the conviction of Scott Watson, and by Keith Hunter, in a 2003 television documentary, and a 2006 book. A 2010 report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority cleared police of allegations by Keith Hunter and Chris Watson. It found the police investigation had fallen short of best practice in areas which "had no significant bearing on the outcome of the investigation". No evidence was found that would support Hunter's other claims.<sup>[9]

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Watson</sup>

PUBLISHER'S NOTE^:
 
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
 
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
 
I look forward to hearing from readers at:

hlevy15@gmail.com.
 
Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;