On Tuesday May 14 Mark Anthony Munro,aged 52 years was sentenced by Acting Justice Nield, in the Supreme Court on charges of aggravated robbery and intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm.Munro who shot a security guard during an armed robbery at the Mawson Club in May 2004 was jailed for 18 years with a [...]

Simon Corbell has announced he’s floating an exposure draft to give the magistrates some new hats to wear on industrial and health and safety matters:
Mr Corbell will today table an exposure draft of the Magistrates Court (Industrial Proceedings) Amendment Bill 2013 in the Legislative Assembly to open the public discussion on the government proposed legislation.
“Ensuring [...]

Zed Seselja, you might be surprised to learn, is still the ACT’s Shadow Attorney-General.
And he wants a fifth judge:
ACT Shadow Attorney-General Zed Seselja will introduce legislation this Wednesday to ensure the appointment of a fifth judge to the Supreme Court which will provide real action on the massive delays currently experienced in the ACT legal [...]

Simon Corbell has made it known that he’s appointed a new Master to the ACT’s Supreme Court:
“I am pleased to announce that the Government has appointed Mr David Mossop as the new Master of the Supreme Court of the ACT,” said Mr Corbell.
“Mr Mossop’s knowledge and background, both at the bar, and as an ACT [...]

The Canberra Times reports on the sentencing of one Jake Arioli.
It doesn’t mention what the ABC does, that this incident occured in June 2012.
10 months to sentence someone who pleaded guilty. Wow!

Master Harper has shared his thoughts on the efforts of Bradley Allen Lawyers to get summary judgment against Min Li Wu, who has been waving placards about them outside their offices, the courts, and in Garema Place for some years now.
The law firm has not succeeded in their application (dismissed with costs against them). It [...]

Here at RiotACT we like Justice Nield. He produces judgments which are both internally consistent, a joy to read, and have a sense of justice as well as legality.
So it’s nice to see Attorney-General Simon Corbell announce he will be returning to the ACT Supreme Court while Justice Refshauge catches up on his homework.
Attorney-General, Simon [...]

The ABC has a story on how the human rights agenda is working out here in Canberra:
For the ACT the backlog is far worse with 43 per cent of cases still running after a year.
That is the biggest backlog of any supreme court in Australia.
The legal profession in Canberra has long sought a fifth [...]

The ABC has word that Simon Corbell isn’t going to launch a judicial commission to investigate Justice Richard Refshauge’s huge backlog of justice denied.
Late last year the ACT Bar Association made a formal complaint, under the Judicial Commissions Act, about Justice Richard Refshauge’s backlog of reserved civil judgements.
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell has dismissed the [...]

The human theatre of the Supreme Court continues with the sentencing of Matthew Hood and Matthew Burge:
The aggravated robbery was committed in February this year. Mr Burge and Mr Hood had been to the Calwell Club in the evening, and shortly after 10 pm they left there and went to the complainant’s home.
I note [...]

It is surprising to see that this has not been posted yet.
A senior Prosecutor has reported to the CT that the Human Rights Act is not helping victims, you know, the human’s involved in a crime, instead it benefits the crims. Good work.

No doubt someone’s onto this already, but I found this bit of courtroom drama reported by the ABC strangely contradictory:

Commit suicide and then afterwards set-fire to your house?
Methadone is not a drug, apparently?
Defendant should be able to go home, because it was a “brain snap”, then snaps brain once again at being refused bail.

The Canberra Times is letting Crispin Hull off the leash to give Canberra’s Supreme Court a going over.
Otherwise, I am afraid, the torpid languor of one hand will continue to wash the drowsy procrastination of the other.

Mr Simon Corbell MLA
Attorney-General for the Australian Capital Territory
GPO Box 1020, Canberra, ACT, 2601
Dear Mr Corbell
I am writing as a resident of the Australian Capital Territory, and as a constituent of the Electorate of Molonglo, to express my concern and anxiety regarding the willingness of the ACT judiciary – in particular the Justices of the [...]

Joy Burch has launched a resource booklet to help those struggling with domestic violence survive the courts:
The booklet “Your Court Your Safety” provides guidance and information on support services to victims of domestic violence to empower and assist them.
“We know one in three Australian women will experience domestic violence in their life time.” Minister Burch [...]

Just read that his worship Higgins has provided bail to serial car thief, drug user teen for the second time. The fact that he while on bail and i assume disqualified from driving, ran a red light mounted the traffic island and crashed into an innocent punter, sorry allegedly, would i think show that he [...]

Justice Burns has been putting a lot of judgments online today. this one in particularly struck a chord involving a Duncan Knight:
At this time you ran towards the complainant and the vehicle. You were carrying a long chrome spanner in your hand. As the complainant was looking down to insert the petrol [...]

The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury has announced the release of a justice package:
– Increase the supply of legal assistance by:
— establishing a Community Legal Centre Hub;
— increasing funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service; and
— lobbying the Federal Government to once again fund 50% of Legal Aid Commissions
– Implement the Ombudsman’s recommendations on victims of crime without [...]

Attorney General Simon Corbell is celebrating chewing through the Supreme Court backlog at the start of law week.
“Of the 72 matters listed for the first 5 weeks of the blitz, more than half of the matters were settled (42 matters), 9 matters were completed with decisions reserved, 4 matters were vacated, 2 matters adjourned, 1 [...]

Attorney-General Simon Corbell has announced a staggering ten new appointments to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal:
“I welcome the appointment of Ms Mary-Therese Daniel as the ACAT’s first full time non-presidential member. Ms Daniel has had an impressive legal career to date, and is a valuable addition to the ACAT.”
In addition, the Attorney-General has appointed [...]

The collective cockles of our hearts were warmed when the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, appointed our very own Solicitor-General.  As Simon explained:
…the Solicitor-General would also appear as counsel in cases of constitutional significance, international cases, and other cases of special government interest.
However, this exchange with Justice Gummow suggests his first High Court outing somewhat misfired:
MR P.J.F. [...]

The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury is asking the Government to pull their fingers out and get busy appointing new magistrates following the retirement of Maria Doogan and Grant Lalor going on indefinite medical leave.
“The Government needs to respond to this unscheduled retirement by prioritising the appointment process to fill the vacancy,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“If process is [...]

A recent posting at the Supreme Court website makes for disturbing reading.
Apart from the horror of the case itself, a series of particularly brutal, incestuous sexual assaults, I was appalled by the transcripts of the cross examination of the brave victim.
The lawyer defending the perpetrator of these crimes accuses the young [...]

Simon Corbell has announced the passage of his laws to give more protection to undercover operatives.
“Undercover operatives who appear as witnesses in court proceedings are often put at risk by testifying publicly in serious criminal matters where the stakes are high and this legislation will better protect those key witnesses as well as those who [...]

Simon Corbell has informed the world of his response to the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council’s
‘A report on suspended sentences in the ACT’.
“The Government has committed $560,000 in the 2011-12 Budget to conduct an investigation, analysis, and feasibility study to enable the ACT Law Courts and Tribunal to provide options on the best way to [...]

The ABC brings word that Canberra’s magistrates have joined the queue of those wanting a pay rise from the ACT Government.
The ACT Government’s changes were designed to share the legal work load more evenly between the magistrates and supreme court jurisdictions.
But in a submission to the ACT Remuneration Tribunal, the magistrates say the result has [...]

The Greens’ Shane Rattenbury is courageously trying to introduce some rationality to the rush for longer sentencing options for judges (presented to us as “tougher sentences”).
The ACT Greens are calling for a full review of criminal sentencing in the ACT in light of the current raft of bills before the Assembly to increase penalties.
There will [...]

Justice And Community Safety are letting us know that he Hon Justice Hilary Penfold and Kathy Leigh, Director-General of the Justice & Community Safety Directorate are conducting a review of case management and listing procedures in the ACT Supreme Court.
To that end they’ve released a Discussion Paper and want your feedback on it by 19 [...]

The Canberra Times brings word that the ACT’s Supreme Court is going to be gutted with two floors of basements added and an extra floor in height whacked on.
This will allow the court to retain it’s location and facade while providing badly needed new facilities.
Win-win right? Well yes, except it means all of the court, [...]

The Greens legal affairs boffin, Shane Rattenbury, has announced Green support for the Government’s push to end judge only trials of cases involving death and sex.
“We support a strong role for jury trials in the criminal justice system because there is real value in brining community standards into the decisions our courts make”, Shane Rattenbury [...]

Simon Corbell has announced Graeme Lunney and Christopher Chenoweth have been elevated to the Special Magistracy.
“Mr Lundy SC is a well respected long-serving member of the ACT legal community who commenced legal practice in 1971 and went to the bar in 1977. He is also a member of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal,” Mr [...]

Over the past year or so it has been hard to miss on Rio-act the very cynical view that a collection of contributors on here seem to have with regard to the ACT criminal justice system.
I only caved and felt the need to write in about it because I am shocked that there are [...]