STORY: "Mark Lundy's appeal judge explores possibility brain tissue came from a pie gallery," by reporter John Galuszka, published by Stuff on October 19, 2017.
GIST: "Mark Lundy's Court of Appeal hearing has turned to discussion of what goes into meat pies and if they contain central nervous system tissue. But the Crown says none of that matters, as experts said tissue found on one of Lundy's shirts was fresh and "smearable". Lundy is appealing his convictions for murdering his wife Christine and their 7-year-old daughter Amber in August 2000 in their Palmerston North home. Lundy was first convicted after a jury trial in 2002, where the Crown said he committed the murders about 7pm on August 30, 2000. But he won a retrial after the Privy Council overturned the verdicts in 2013. He was again convicted after a retrial in early 2015, where the Crown said the murders happened sometime between 1am and 5.30 am. Defence lawyer Jonathan Eaton, QC, is appearing for Mark Lundy at his appeal. He filed his appeal soon after. A suggestion by his lawyers at the retrial was that the tissue, which the Crown says came from Christine's brain, came from a chili beef and cheese pie he ate the day before the bodies were discovered. Justice Raynor Asher explored that submission in the Court of Appeal on Thursday with Crown lawyer Philip Morgan, QC. "The pie contained ground beef," Asher said. "Ground beef includes central nervous system tissue, presumably. "He picks up a fork and two drops spill on his shirt." Animal and Christine's DNA were both found in one of the two stains on the shirt. Morgan said the pie theory was unlikely to be true, because experts said the tissue had to be fresh. "How unlucky can you be to be eating a chili beef and cheese pie and get a piece of beef on your shirt, which has miraculously transformed itself into being fresh and capable of being smeared, and Christine Lundy's DNA has got on the same spot in a large quantity. "It's not just once, but twice." Asher said he was surprised at the emphasis on the tissue having to be fresh and smearable. "I seem to successfully smear food on occasion into my shirt." Justice Mark Cooper said he was more concerned about a submission from Morgan that a piece of evidence that suggested the tissue was more likely human than animal was not overly important. "If it is inadmissible, then what effect did this have on the trial? "Can this court be sure that the jury would nevertheless have convicted [Lundy]?" Morgan said the evidence was part of the "building blocks" of the case, and other evidence showed Lundy was the murderer. Core case 'did not change' but time of death did. Morgan said the key case against Lundy did not change between trials, despite the proposed time the victims died moving by as much as seven hours. Lundy's defence team has made various submissions as to why the convictions should be quashed. One of those was that the retrial should have been subject to a stay, as they were not told about the change in time of death until a few weeks before the retrial. But Morgan said that submission had no basis."
The entire story can be found at:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/98035944/mark-lundys-appeal-enters-final-day
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/c
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