PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am grateful to Andrew Urban for bringing these cases which are expected to unfurl in 2021 in a recent post of his his 'Wrongful Conviction Report.' I am running a series based on this post, published at the link below, as a prelude to following them through the new year, starting with Susan Neill-Fraser, whose appeal is set to begin in Tasmania's Supreme Court beginning on March 1. This is truly a riveting case of injustice that should cause international concern. As changed.org notes on a petition: "Sue Neill-Fraser has suffered injustice beyond imagination, now in her 12th year in jail (of 23 years), convicted of murdering her partner Bob Chappell. Sue is innocent. She has won the right to appeal but remains in jail despite a recent confession of an eye witness who saw who did kill Bob, and it was not Sue. The real murderers are not being investigated. A large volume puddle of DNA at the crime scene, belonged to homeless girl, Meaghan Vass, 15 at the time. Now, ten years later, Meaghan has bravely confessed on 60 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHkoS80Ln0w that she was there on the yacht, she saw Bob repeatedly bashed by her former boyfriend, saw lots of blood, and admitted she vomited - accounting for the large pool of DNA. Bob’s body was never found. It was an entirely circumstantial case: no witnesses, no motive, no weapon, no forensics against Sue, loads of missed suspects including local criminals at the location that night, never investigated. Sue was found guilty despite the 26cm x 21cm patch of DNA found at the crime scene… DNA that proved Meaghan was on the yacht. Other DNA on the yacht remains unidentified. There were others at the crime scene. The Tasmania Police investigation was deeply flawed, devoid of sound crime scene principles and procedures, and thorough crime scene analysis. The forensics were problematic. Witnesses were mistaken. Some lied, others were never located."
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "There are several other problems with the trial, including forensic evidence that was led which is not admissible and the failure to properly investigate the DNA that was found on the yacht. The DNA was dismissed by the prosecution as a ‘red herring’. It was matched to then homeless 15 year old Meaghan Vass, who told the court in a short appearance that she had not been on the yacht. The defence wanted to recall her but the judge refused permission. A decade later, Vass admitted (on 60 Minutes) that she had indeed been on the yacht, had been terrified by a fight involving Bob Chappell and her two male companions. Sue Neill-Fraser was not on board. Vass is now hoping to make amends and testify to that effect under oath, at the upcoming appeal. The appeal will be heard by three Tasmanian judges. Their boss, now the Chief Justice, was the trial judge. Hmmm."
POST: 'New years hopes for old injustices', by Andrew L. Urban, published on his 'Wrongful Conviction Report' on December 17, 2020."
SUMMARY OF POST: : "After several delays, some due to the travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic, Sue Neill-Fraser’s final appeal against her baseless and poorly tried 2010 murder conviction will be heard in Tasmania’s Supreme Court beginning on March 1. The body of Bob Chappell, her then partner of 18 years she was accused of murdering, has never been found."
GIST: Sue Neill-Fraser – murder by the prosecution: "It was the 2013 Eve Ash documentary, Shadow of Doubt, that lured me into the world of wrongful convictions. Eve Ash had spent a couple of years investigating the investigation … and the Tasmanian police did not come out as a proficient force. Sue Neill-Fraser had already been convicted in 2010, but the more I pursued the story of her case, the more troubled I became. There was no evidence against her. Legendary defence barrister Chester Porter QC had the same response. So did several other legal eagles. It was the Neill-Fraser case that inspired the title of my book, Murder by the Prosecution (Wilkinson Publishing), a collection of wrongful convictions.
To recap: A middle aged man (Bob Chappell) disappears from his yacht (Four Winds) overnight, never to be found. Police charge his female partner (Sue Neill-Fraser) with murder. At the subsequent trial, the prosecutor, contrary to the law but unchallenged by the judge, speculates freely on how she might have murdered him (perhaps with a wrench) and dumped his body into the dinghy and then in Hobart’s Derwent river, but offers no evidence to support any of this. The accused is convicted and jailed for 23 years.
The transcript of the trial shows that:
* In the absence of the jury, the DPP admits to the judge that he ‘never believed’ there was any of Chappell’s blood in the Four Winds dinghy, but talks to the jury about the blood testing anyway.
* In the absence of the jury, the DPP admits to the judge that he has no evidence to support his speculation that a fire extinguisher was used to weigh down Chappell’s body, but puts it to the jury anyway – and the judge refers to it in his summing up as well as in the sentencing, as if it were proven evidence.
* In his closing address to the jury, the DPP repeats his speculation about how the murder was committed by Neill-Fraser but admits he doesn’t really know what was the murder weapon she used. The judge allowed it.
There are several other problems with the trial, including forensic evidence that was led which is not admissible and the failure to properly investigate the DNA that was found on the yacht. The DNA was dismissed by the prosecution as a ‘red herring’. It was matched to then homeless 15 year old Meaghan Vass, who told the court in a short appearance that she had not been on the yacht. The defence wanted to recall her but the judge refused permission.
A decade later, Vass admitted (on 60 Minutes) that she had indeed been on the yacht, had been terrified by a fight involving Bob Chappell and her two male companions. Sue Neill-Fraser was not on board. Vass is now hoping to make amends and testify to that effect under oath, at the upcoming appeal. The appeal will be heard by three Tasmanian judges. Their boss, now the Chief Justice, was the trial judge. Hmmm."
The entire 'Wrongful Conviction Report' post can be read at:
https://wrongfulconvictionsreport.org/2020/12/17/new-year-hopes-for-old-injustices/#more-2604
