PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION: "On October 2, 2020, I devoted my International Wrongful Conviction Day post to adding my voice to the movement to free Derek Bromley, who had been sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 32 years, for the murder of Stephen Docoza, whose body was found floating in the River Torrens in Adelaide in April 1984. Derek Bromley, an Aboriginal, was sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 32 years, for the murder of Stephen Docoza, whose body was found floating in the River Torrens in Adelaide in April 1984. I stressed that being 64-years-old at the time and having protested his innocence from the outset, Derek had already been in prison for 37 years, and had exhausted his statutory rights of appeal decades previously, And I noted that I was moved by the fact that he could have been released on parole years ago but only if he had admitted that he was guilty - which he adamantly refused to do - stating that he would rather die in prison than submit to a false allegation. (A powerful sign of innocence in my books.) Indeed, a co-accused had been released 16 years earlier, in 2004. My interested in the Bromley case had been prompted by the role played in the case by Dr. Colin Manock (South Australia's chief pathologist) who I have characterised in the past as 'Australia's Charles Smith'. Bromley's lawyers contend that Manock's finding that the deceased had died by drowning, and that several bruises he found on the deceased's body had occurred within 24 hours of the man's death, were rejected by three expert witnesses who testified that the finding of drowning could not be substantiated. Criticisms were also raised as to the manner in which Manock investigated the deceased's body. I also pointed out that the second pillar of the prosecution's case - a wobbly pillar at that - was the eyewitness account of the man who implicated him, who was at the time suffering from schizophrenia; Like Charles Smith, Colin Manock has been found by tribunals and courts over the years to be unqualified, untrained, and incompetent - and both he and Smith have left a shattering of confidence in their respective criminal justice systems behind them. I am astonished that three years since my previous Wrongful Conviction Day Post, Derek Bromley, remains in prison, in spite of all of the evidence pointing to his innocence, and the South Australian government's undisputed knowledge of Manock's lack of qualifications, training and competence. I have therefore asked Robyn Milera, who has devoted much of her life to freeing Derek Bromley, to use International wrongful Conviction Day 2023 to explain why people around the world should care about this nightmarish miscarriage of justice - and what they can do about it. Robyn, a founder and co-editor co-founder of 'Bringing Justice', along with Shayde Morley, Robyn holds Bachelor Degrees in Teaching and in Laws and Legal Practice and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Australia in 2015. Rather than pursuing teaching or legal practice as a career she committed, many years ago, to supporting Derek Bromley on his decade's long campaign for justice and the overturning of a wrongful conviction for which he remains imprisoned since 1984. I am grateful to Robyn for contributing this moving post which gives us valuable insight into the personal cost to family members along with the person wrongly accused.
Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: ROBYN MILERA: GUEST POST: "What is most appreciated by Derek is the consistency of my presence and availability. He has told me several times these words: ‘You came and sat down next to me and you just never left. I trust you with my life.’ My point is that everybody has a purpose and a job to do when we show up for justice."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: ROBYN MILERA: GUEST POST: "When we first met in the early nineties, he’d already served eight years in South Australia’s high-security Yatala Labour Prison. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had recently exhausted all avenues of appeal and had just received legal advice that a seven-year campaign had failed to unearth any grounds upon which to petition the Governor General to send his case back to the Supreme Court. There was no other way forward, legally speaking, at that time. In 2006 and 2010 Dr Robert Moles submitted petitions on Derek’s behalf, both of which were refused. Since 2006 Derek has been eligible for release on parole. Six applications have been made. He has still not been approved for conditional release on parole, despite his exemplary institutional reports and ten years of outstanding service as a senior fire fighter and emergency responder. That he remains 17 years beyond completion of his non-parole period, is a sickening and grossly cruel injustice on its own. In April of this year Derek entered his fortieth year of incarceration and nearly four decades of seamless persistence is about to pay off. On International Wrongful Conviction Day, I am grateful to have the opportunity to acknowledge the professionals who have made and are still making voluntary investments and sacrifices to secure his freedom and beyond. What courage and persistence it takes!
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GUEST POST: ROBYN MILERA:
Derek Bromley has needed people to come to his aid on the legal front, because he could not do the impossible from a prison cell. The road back from a wrongful conviction is daunting, and there are only slim chances of access to justice.
He has never doubted that justice required the overturning of his conviction, but he had to consistently defy the intimidating forces of the prison environment to attract and maintain the attention of anyone who could possibly advocate for him.
When we first met in the early nineties, he’d already served eight years in South Australia’s high- security Yatala Labour Prison. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had recently exhausted all avenues of appeal and had just received legal advice that a seven-year campaign had failed to unearth any grounds upon which to petition the Governor General to send his case back to the Supreme Court. There was no other way forward, legally speaking, at that time. In 2006 and 2010 Dr Robert Moles submitted petitions on Derek’s behalf, both of which were refused. Since 2006 Derek has been eligible for release on parole. Six applications have been made. He has still not been approved for conditional release on parole, despite his exemplary institutional reports and ten years of outstanding service as a senior fire fighter and emergency responder.
That he remains 17 years beyond completion of his non-parole period, is a sickening and grossly cruel injustice on its own. In April of this year Derek entered his fortieth year of incarceration and nearly four decades of seamless persistence is about to pay off.
On International Wrongful Conviction Day, I am grateful to have the opportunity to acknowledge the professionals who have made and are still making voluntary investments and sacrifices to secure his freedom and beyond. What courage and persistence it takes!
Who am I?
During the course of my involvement with Derek, I was admitted as a solicitor and barrister in the Supreme Court of South Australia. I suppose I held some hope that I could one day have an active role in helping him as a practicing lawyer, but it hasn’t worked out that way. My intention from the beginning was to support Derek, to the best of my ability, in any way that presented itself and stick at it until he gained his freedom. Occasionally, knowledge of the law and a detailed familiarity with the documents from the original trial, has enabled me to assist and liaise with his legal teams during the preparation and running of his appeals. It also gave me the skills in legal reasoning and research to comprehend and discuss with him the processes that were at work during the long, difficult delays that sapped our health. Now, we are waiting for the adjudication of the High Court of Australia to be handed down. Everything that could be done, has been done. Of course, we anticipate a good result, and Derek’s imminent release from prison. Despite positivity, though, the perpetual uncertainty and psychological inertia that is so familiar and binding in the prison experience, influences simple preparations – they are exciting but still feel like cautious, provisional acts.
A reflection on the role of ‘sitting alongside’
Writing things isn’t usually difficult for me, but I have wrestled over what I can offer in appreciation of Wrongful Conviction Day. So, I’ve decided to get real and consent to vulnerability. It started like this: an invitation from God to notice a prisoner and simply ‘sit’ with him. It was an invitation. I was never put upon. No one forced me to abandon a teaching career, I knew Derek and his predicament well enough to accept that it was going to take focus and availability. That is the essence of my involvement - not heroic, not showy, nothing to brag about, I didn’t have any superpowers. Let me tell you though, when you receive a complementary ticket to just ‘take a seat and watch this’, it’s not as passive as it sounds. It’s a moving train; it’s an immersion in which everything you see, hear and experience is undergoing, disruption and transformation, including your well-hidden self. Justice is a process. I don’t want to draw attention to my own trauma. The media loves it and needs it, but it’s a very vulnerable situation. I don’t like it, but, it’s necessary here to testify to the fact that responding to injustice can be painful and costly, without a doubt. Even just sitting with someone else’s burden for a long time, is transformative. So, I’ll give my ‘trauma’ one paragraph only and please infer that self-compassion and a bit of humour is intended:
I’ve been deconstructed and institutionalised. It took three decades to run a ‘factory reset’ on me. It involved excavation and eradication. It took parleying with my deepest fears, humiliation, worry, grief, loneliness, despair, powerlessness, disillusionment, physical and mental depletion that I THOUGHT WOULD NEVER END. I started adopting the coping instincts of the incarcerated but, my marriage still dissolved, my daughters still inherited part of the burden, it redirected all manner of resources, brought me to my knees, caused me to groan, jabber, complain and worship in borrowed languages, night and day. Just picture a creature of unearthly origin, baying at the moon. I shut down. My brain felt like it was broken. I couldn’t feel or process my true thoughts and emotions even though I could appear to have abandoned myself to hysteria. But what on earth have I really been doing for the last thirty years that has actually helped get justice for Derek Bromley. What have I done that has helped? Derek and I know we’ve hustled, one way or the other every single day but there are two ways I can be sure I’ve contributed and made a difference and they both come down the critical value of standing with another human being in their troubles, and believing in them, even if that is all you can do.
1. The parole board noted that I affirm prisoner Bromley’s insistence on maintaining his innocence, and that I support his focus on pursuing appeals to overturn the murder conviction. This support is problematic for them as it contradicts their need to have him demonstrate remorse.
2. What is most appreciated by Derek is the consistency of my presence and availability. He has told me several times these words: ‘You came and sat down next to me and you just never left. I trust you with my life’.
My point is that everybody has a purpose and a job to do when we show up for justice.
What I’ve learned about responding to injustice
Responding to injustice and working for substantive change is actionable in all sorts of ways. Justice, CAN NOT do without your unique involvement. Whatever existing conditions you aspire to disrupt, if you step up it will be a disruptive experience for you but a strengthening one. It’s a mistake and distraction to try to be like anyone one else or impress anyone else. Do what you have been equipped to do. Accept your opportunities and embrace your responsibilities. We must care about the making of fair laws and require accountability of law makers, law enforcers and interpreters/gate keepers of the law. No matter what battles you choose, get informed and active in support of the principles of the rule of law.
A few things we’re looking forward to
There is plenty of work for us to do when Derek is finally a free man.
He’ll need time for a good look at the scenery out here, and to adjust to freedom at his own pace.
He longs to meet the grand-children he has never met, and reunite with his two sons and remaining relatives
We want to join the campaign to secure a national body in Australia that can independently review possible miscarriages of justice - along the lines of a Criminal Cases Review Commission
We hope for opportunities to work on reforms to the prison system, including the desperate and unfinished business in relation to the over incarceration of Indigenous Australians.
We will continue to tell and record the whole of the Bromley story as a personal and national legacy.
Derek loves his work as a fire-fighter and hopes to continue in it
We want to have lots of fun and organise ourselves to do good things for people
I hope you all remain encouraged to do justice, love mercy and be humble and please pray for us that we will soon get around to doing these things we’ve been prepared to accomplish. Please give thanks for the good result that is about to be delivered in favour of the overturning of the conviction.
Thank you
Robyn Milera'
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RECOMMENDED MATERIALS:
The Project: Excellent video on Derek Bromley's fight for freedom 40 years after he was jailed for murder. (Contains interviews with Robyn Milera);
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGdBbW3IuHk
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Bringing Justice: The Journey of Derek Bromley:
https://bringingjustice2020.wordpress.com
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Networked Knowledge: Derek Bromley Homepage
http://netk.net.au/BromleyHome.asp
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
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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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/
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