Saturday, July 23, 2022

Derek Bromley: Australia: Major Development: Warning: From legal scholar Prof. Robert Moles to the South Australian government (Attorney General Kyam Maher) - and relevant to other governments as well: There is a heavy price to pay for disobeying their duty under international law and the Australian courts to disclose to the courts the perverse role played by state officials such as former Chief Forensic Pathologist Colin Manock, who have contributed to miscarriages of justice such as the Derek Bromley case (subject of a forthcoming appeal) because of their lack of qualifications and record of misconduct.. "I have cited to you the duty set out by Justice Blue in the judgment in R v Keogh (No 2) [2015] SASC 180 where the headnote states “Held: 1. The prosecution owes to the court a duty of disclosure in respect of evidence of prosecution witnesses (at [54], [62]). [Emphasis added] I have informed you that the DPP in Mr Bromley’s case has indicated that he will not fulfil this duty in his submissions to the High Court in relation to the prior misconduct and lack of qualifications concerning Dr Manock and his evidence at Mr Bromley’s trial.1: 22 July 2022: by email NETWORKED KNOWLEDGE (ABN: BN 04056310) I think it is extremely important for you as chief law officer for the state of South Australia to be on notice of this anticipatory breach of duty by the Crown."


QUOTE OF THE  DAY: "I can only add that if you wish to maintain your present position, I trust that you have consulted with the insurers for the State of South Australia, as I have no doubt that this continuing conduct will have significant consequences for the future liabilities of the State in this and other cases in which Dr Manock was involved." 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In the event that Mr Bromleys conviction is overturned by the High Court, questions will arise about the prior knowledge of state officials (beyond that of the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions HL)  concerning this deplorable state of affairs. I have pointed out in my prior submissions to your predecessors, the principles which apply to the securing (or maintaining) of wrongful convictions on the basis of evidence known to be false and misleading. They refer to actions which are an unspeakable outrage’ – ‘an extremely grave criminal offence’ and a species of criminality at the extreme end of the spectrum of official corruption’ – see the briefing paper at p 23. I can only add that if you wish to maintain your present position, I trust that you have consulted with the insurers for the State of South Australia, as I have no doubt that this continuing conduct will have significant consequences for the future liabilities of the State in this and other cases in which Dr Manock was involved."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

LETTER:  "Letter to South Australian Attorney General  Kyam Maher from Prof. Robert Moles: Re: Bromley v The Queen (High Court of Australia; 

GIST: "Thank you for your letter of 20 July 2022I note that you state that it is for Mr Bromley and the Director to run their arguments in the special leave application as they see fit.” I am sure you will agree, as chief law officer, that what is fit and proper conduct by the Crown must be within the constraints of our international human rights obligations (the duty to ensure an effective appeal) – the principles laid down in judgments of the High Court and the Court of Criminal appeal - and the duties set out in the DPP Code of Conduct. [These were referred to in Sangha and Moles, Miscarriages of Justice: Criminal Appeals and the Rule of Law, LexisNexis (2015) chapter 8 at 8.3 Prosecutorial Duties]. I have cited to you the duty set out by Justice Blue in the judgment in R v Keogh (No 2) [2015] SASC 180 where the headnote states Held: 1. The prosecution owes to the court a duty of disclosure in respect of evidence of prosecution witnesses (at [54], [62]). [Emphasis added] I have informed you that the DPP in Mr Bromleys case has indicated that he will not fulfil this duty in his submissions to the High Court in relation to the prior misconduct and lack of qualifications concerning Dr Manock and his evidence at Mr Bromleys trial.1: 22 July 2022: by email NETWORKED KNOWLEDGE (ABN: BN 04056310) I think it is extremely important for you as chief law officer for the state of South Australia to be on notice of this anticipatory breach of duty by the Crown. In the event that Mr Bromleys conviction is overturned by the High Court, questions will arise about the prior knowledge of state officials (beyond that of the DPP) concerning this deplorable state of affairs. I have pointed out in my prior submissions to your predecessors, the principles which apply to the securing (or maintaining) of wrongful convictions on the basis of evidence known to be false and misleading. They refer to actions which are an unspeakable outrage’ – ‘an extremely grave criminal offence’ and a species of criminality at the extreme end of the spectrum of official corruption’ – see the briefing paper at p 23. I can only add that if you wish to maintain your present position, I trust that you have consulted with the insurers for the State of South Australia, as I have no doubt that this continuing conduct will have significant consequences for the future liabilities of the State in this and other cases in which Dr Manock was involved. Yours sincerely, Dr Robert N Moles ACII (UK) LLB (Hons) (Belf) PhD (Edin) Adjunct Associate Professor (Business, Govt and Law) Flinders University Networked Knowledge."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire letter can be read at:

http://netk.net.au/Manock/Manock43.pdf

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

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;



SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:




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;

—————————————————————————————————

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.