I Though US Courts Were Screwy

[Annie]

From Australia:

http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1258&storyid=2796000

Free despite murder confession

March 12, 2005

A MAN who confessed to killing two women walked free from court yesterday when a judge ruled the evidence too damning.

Father-of-two Lyle Simpson admitted being a killer, DNA evidence proved he was at the scene of one murder and he tried to commit suicide a day later.

Yet after three days of legal argument in the NSW Supreme Court, Judge Anthony Whealy ruled some evidence was just too damning and ran the risk of "unfair prejudice'' to the accused.

A married Simpson was accused of murdering his mistress Rhonda Buckley, 51, in September 2001 in Georgetown, Newcastle.

But the family of the victim were devastated by the decision which enabled Simpson, 45, to go free after 16 months in jail awaiting trial.

Ms Buckley's daughter Suzy Westgarth said: "I am bloody angry, so angry."

Outside the court yesterday, Simpson said: "I'm relieved to go home. I've got two disabled kids and I just want to live my life and be left alone by the police," he said.

"I've had a rough time. My wife's been through hell.

"If you haven't been in jail you don't know what it's like to be locked up in cells, no TVs and radios.

"I've never been in trouble before... I can never replace that 16 months."

The decision comes a day after Senior Deputy NSW Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen criticised defence lawyers for using "ambush, trickery" to get criminals off.

Police evidence papers tendered to the court say Simpson telephoned his wife Kamara several times on September 25 and told her he had "killed two sheilas".

In another call, he allegedly said: "I have killed a prostitute, there's two less Sheilas in the world."

Ms Buckley, a grandmother and mother-of-three who had an affair with Simpson, was discovered strangled in her bed by her daughter Suzy and son-in-law Steve Westgarth.

Simpson's DNA – in the form of semen – was found on the victim's body.

And the day after the death, Simpson was found unconscious in his car south of Newcastle after trying to gas himself with exhaust fumes.

The court ruled the fact of the suidice attempt inadmissable.

He was arrested two years after Ms Buckley's death.

But in court, his defence team led by legal aid solicitor Joanne Harris successfully argued the evidence would unduly prejudice the jury.

A court source said: "The evidence would be too prejudicial for the jury to hear, they would naturaly assume from some of the evidence, that he was guilty.

"They also successfully argued that the jury could believe he was guilty if he attemped suicide when there could be other reasons for it."

Under Section 137 of the Evidence Act 1995 "the court must refuse to admit evidence adduced by the prosecutor if its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant."

What that means, is if the a single piece of evidence is so overpowering it would sway a jury from giving a fair trial, it cannot be used.

Unfair prejudice is deemed to be "if there is a real risk that the evidence will be misused by the jury in some unfair way".

But Mrs Westgarth, 28, "I definitely think the government needs to make changes... and soon."

* Lawyers who yesterday voted themselves protection from negligence claims from disgruntled clients may be about to lose it.

Australia is one of the last countries to uphold laws protects lawyers.

But NSW Attorney General Bob Debus told The Saturday Daily Telegraph: "NSW will move to change the laws protecting lawyers from being sued by their clients."