Saturday, November 27, 2021

Sue Neill-Fraser: Australia: Bulletin: The long awaited decision of the judges in her final appeal against her 2010 murder conviction is to be released on Tuesday, November 30, Andrew L. Urban reports on his Wrongful Conviction Report..."The appeal was heard March 1- 3, 2021, six years after the then new further right to appeal legislation was introduced in 2015 by then Attorney-General the late Vanessa Goodwin. Neill-Fraser was convicted of murdering her partner Bob Chappell on their recently purchased yacht, Four Winds, on Australia Day 2009, in a circumstantial case. Chappell’s body has never been found, neither a murder weapon. The controversial case has since been examined by investigative writers, authors, TV documentaries and a movie; none could find any evidence probative of her guilt. Revelations in the Etter/Selby papers (tabled in Parliament in August 2021) of evidence withheld and other problems with the police investigation, have fuelled preparations to call for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the case, in the event that the appeal is dismissed."


GIST: "The long awaited decision of the judges in Sue Neill-Fraser’s final appeal against her 2010 murder conviction will be handed down in the Supreme Court of Tasmania at 9.45am on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. 

The appeal was heard March 1- 3, 2021, six years after the then new further right to appeal legislation was introduced in 2015 by then Attorney-General the late Vanessa Goodwin.

Neill-Fraser was convicted of murdering her partner Bob Chappell on their recently purchased yacht, Four Winds, on Australia Day 2009, in a circumstantial case. Chappell’s body has never been found, neither a murder weapon. The controversial case has since been examined by investigative writers, authors, TV documentaries and a movie; none could find any evidence probative of her guilt.

Revelations in the Etter/Selby papers (tabled in Parliament in August 2021) of evidence withheld and other problems with the police investigation, have fuelled preparations to call for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the case, in the event that the appeal is dismissed."

The entire post can be read at:

https://wrongfulconvictionsreport.org/2021/11/26/sue-neill-fraser-appeal-decision-on-tuesday-november-30-2021/
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;
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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WORD: "It is incredibly easy to convict an innocent person, but it's exceedingly difficult to undo such a devastating injustice. 
Jennifer Givens: DirectorL UVA Innocence Project.