PASSAGE OF THE DAY: (From Wikipedia): "A key defence argument was that Lundy could not possibly have made the round trip from Wellington to Palmerston North and back in three hours,[22] pointing out that Lundy's phone records prove that his phone was in Petone at 5:43 pm and at 8:48 pm. Regarding the brain tissue evidence, the defence noted that there was blood and tissue splattered everywhere including on the walls, the bed and the floor around the bodies but "his car, glasses, wedding ring, shoes and other clothes were all tested for blood or other tissue and absolutely nothing was found";[18] they said contamination could account for the tissue found on Lundy's shirt."
STORY: "Mark Lundy seeking conviction appeal with Supreme Court," published by Brinkwire on December 22, 2018.
GIST: "Mark Lundy will attempt to appeal his convictions for murdering his wife and daughter at the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court confirmed to Newshub that Lundy’s solicitor had filed an application to appeal his convictions. In October, the Court of Appeal rejected a legal bid by Lundy, saying his appeal should be dismissed on the basis no substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred. He has twice been convicted of killing his wife, Christine, and daughter, Amber, in Palmerston North in 2000.The first conviction came in 2002, before the Privy Council overturned his conviction in 2013. He was found guilty again in a retrial in 2015. Stains on Lundy’s shirt have been the point of contention in his trials and appeals. While the Crown says they could be brain or spinal cord matter from his wife, the defence argues it could be food. Lundy’s lawyers also argued there were significant omissions from the Judge’s summing up at the first trial, while the retrial was abuse of process because of substantial changes to the Crown case compared to the first trial. But the Court of Appeal were satisfied the trial had been fair. Lundy is serving life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 20 years."
Read also the Wikipedia entry on "The Lundy Murders" at the link below: Prosecution case: The prosecution contended that Lundy killed his wife for her life insurance money because of financial pressures on him, and killed his daughter because she was a witness. They said that after talking to his wife and daughter on the phone, Lundy got in his car, drove back to Palmerston North, bludgeoned his wife and daughter to death, changed his clothes, disposed of the evidence, altered the time on the family computer, ran back to his car wearing a blonde wig and then drove back to his motel in Petone at high speed.[18] The prosecution's case was also based on a speck of body tissue found on one of Lundy's polo shirts; the shirt was found along with other clothes and miscellaneous items on the back seat of his car. Although New Zealand pathologists could not identify it as Christine's brain tissue, a pathologist from Texas did. The prosecution argued the only way this brain tissue could have got on the shirt was if Lundy himself was the murderer. Later reports and tests by other experts cast doubt upon the identification of the material as brain tissue[19] No weapon was ever found, but paint found in the hair of victims matched the paint Lundy used to mark the tools in his toolshed.[20] The prosecution called more than 130 Crown witnesses.[21]Defence case: The defence called three witnesses including Lundy himself, who emphatically denied killing his wife and daughter. A key defence argument was that Lundy could not possibly have made the round trip from Wellington to Palmerston North and back in three hours,[22] pointing out that Lundy's phone records prove that his phone was in Petone at 5:43 pm and at 8:48 pm. Regarding the brain tissue evidence, the defence noted that there was blood and tissue splattered everywhere including on the walls, the bed and the floor around the bodies but "his car, glasses, wedding ring, shoes and other clothes were all tested for blood or other tissue and absolutely nothing was found";[18] they said contamination could account for the tissue found on Lundy's shirt. Verdict: The jury deliberated for seven hours before finding Lundy guilty of the murder of his wife and child.[16] He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. Lundy's brother Craig, who gave evidence at the trial, publicly stated that he believed Lundy was guilty, while his sister and brother-in-law claimed his innocence..........Second Appeal: In October 2017, Lundy appealed his second conviction at the Court of Appeal in Wellington.[30] Lundy was represented in the Court of Appeal by Jonathan Eaton QC, Julie-Anne Kincade, Jack Oliver-Hood and Helen Coutts.[30] The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in October 2018. It ruled that the Crown evidence about RNA (the alleged presence of brain tissue on Lundy's shirt and similar to DNA) in the retrial was inadmissible but decided the appeal should be dismissed "on the basis that no substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred."[31]Other theories of the murders: Geoff Levick, who runs a campaign to have Lundy's convictions overturned, believed Lundy was innocent largely based on the time needed to travel from Petone to Lundy's house and return. He speculated that a creditor of Lundy's paid someone to go to Lundy's house to "teach him a lesson", but Lundy was not there and matters "got out of hand".[32] In 2009, North and South magazine published the results of an investigation into the case by Mike White titled The Lundy murders: what the jury didn't hear. Lundy would have had only three hours to make the return journey from Petone to Palmerston North, a round trip of approximately 290 km (180 mi), kill his wife and daughter, change his clothes and dispose of evidence; White contended that was not possible in such a short time frame.[18] In order to make it back to Petone by 8.28 pm, Lundy would have had to drive to Palmerston North in rush hour traffic at an average speed of around 117 km/h (the maximum open road speed limit in New Zealand at the time was 100 km/h),[18] commit the crimes, and make the return journey back to Petone at an average speed of 120 km/h.[18] In 2012, documentary film maker, Bryan Bruce made an episode examining the Lundy case as part of his series The Investigator. Like others, Bruce believed that Lundy could not possibly have made the return trip in three hours,[33][34] but he thought Lundy could have made the trip and committed the crimes later that night, returning to Petone in the early hours of the morning.[34Lundy 500:] "In July 2009, Salient editor Jackson Wood courted controversy by announcing the "Lundy 500", an event whereby teams of vehicles would "travel from Petone to Palmerston North as convicted double murderer Mark Lundy did in 2000, before murdering wife Christine and daughter Amber, according to the prosecution at his 2002 trial." Participants were tasked with doing the trip in 68 minutes or less, the same time Lundy is argued to have driven the distance. Wood argued that the "event was designed to draw attention to some of the inconsistencies in the New Zealand legal system", and emphasised that he wasn't encouraging anyone to break the law.[35] However, the proposed event was harshly criticised in the media,[36][37] and on August 2, it was announced that the event was to be cancelled. Wood apologised to the Lundy family and wrote that: "He acknowledged that their viewpoints were not adequately taken into account before the event was announced on Friday, and that there were other ways for this point to be communicated".[38] A similar re-enactment of the travel involved in the Lundy case, dubbed the "Lundy Three Hundy" was proposed in 2013 by Nic Miller. It was likewise criticised in the media, with Mathew Grocott writing that "this event should not go ahead and if those involved have any human decency then it won't go ahead.""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lundy_murders
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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
