Just remember the verdict in the case of Crown v Zdravko Micevic (the bouncer charged and acquitted in the death of David Hookes).

For background of that case see

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/all-losers-in-hookes-death/2005/09/12/1126377252789.html

for the verdict see

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/i-am-sorry-it-happened/2005/09/12/1126377256829.html

A civil case was then brought:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/now-relieved-bouncer-sued-over-hookes-punch/2005/09/13/1126377289014.html

There was even more evidence available to the jury in that matter than in the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee.

Fellow trendsetters, Sorry about the delay, the 24 hr posting clock caught up with me.

There are (3) three parts to this post.

1.

Hamlet,

That you’re a judges associate (how scary is that) I feel justfied in expecting a much more learned and scholarly approach to CL, certainly a lot more than you’ve articulated so far.

Here are some references of articles written by some of your law colleagues.(who incidently read and research more widely than the newspaper on CL)

These can be access through AGIS or informit databases (assuming you know how to do some basic electronic research?)

Politics clouds issues of culture and 'customary law'. by
BEHRENDT Larissa

Recognition of Aboriginal customary laws in WA. by
HANDS Tatum L

Circle sentencing breaks cycle. by
LAVELLE Keren

The culture of consent and traditional punishments under customary law. by
BIELEFELD Shelley

2.

• Humble pie time for Rainier!

[Deleted]

Besides all the nice things lots of people have to say about him - check out the big porky where IH claims he was demonstrating against the Vietnam War when he was 8 years old. Yes, afraid so, he’s that pathetic.

3.

Now with house keeping out of the way here’s a juicy little one for trivia buffs.

Check out this PDF document – hit the word search button and type in ‘Hurley”
Yes, she’s one and the same.
http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/HANSARD/1992/pdfs/19920624.pdf

BONAPATITE!

Rainier

I am not a judge's associate

I work with judge's associates,

Good one, Rainier. Why am I not astounded to learn that Mrs Hurley is/was a Crown prosecutor in Qld?

Also, I'm equally unastounded to learn that Hamlet is the tea-lady for some judges' associates!

Hamlet, sorry but I don't provide introductory legal studies online. Put the effort in and get better educated. - 2 sugars/milk thanks.

Here is another sad development.

Rioting mother jailed
By Peter Michael
January 03
Article from: <http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/?from=ni_story>

EMOTIONS ran high on Palm Island yesterday as a mother-of-four was jailed for throwing a rock in the November 2004 riots.

Alissa Norman, 32, hugged and kissed her children goodbye in an emotional outpouring at the island's airstrip yesterday before she was flown to Stuart Creek Women's Correctional Centre, near Townsville, for her four-month prison stint.

Ms Norman, affectionately known as Minnie, handed herself in after being allowed to spend Christmas with her family and was taken into custody, handcuffed and flown off the island on a police charter flight about 11am.

Her three youngest children Keifer, 13, Noel, 5, and 18-month-old daughter Sioni sobbed openly as the plane disappeared from view.

"It is one rule for police and one for everyone else," said her emotional mother and Palm Island councillor Rosina Norman, who will care for the children.

"She had no police record, no criminal history, had never been in trouble before. "But ... she throws a rock in a riot and gets the book thrown at her, while a policeman kills a man and gets off scot-free – it's not right."

Ms Norman's prison term was the result of Attorney-General Kerry Shine successfully appealing the leniency of her original sentence –

a 12-month intensive correction order, to be served in the community.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president and lawyer Terry O'Gorman said the case highlighted the growing perception of double-standards in the state's justice system.

"The perception is there is one standard for the aboriginal community who have the full weight of the law thrown at them including by the Attorney-General who appeals the leniency of the sentence.

"And the other is despite a coroner finding Mulrunji was killed by Sergeant (Chris) Hurley there is no basis for criminal charges.

IAIN HALL

You say: "Yes Ronnie too many people do not understand the rules of evidence and the concept of proving a case 'beyond reasonable doubt' That the foundation of our justice system and we abandon it at our own peril"

Iain I am well aware of the "beyond reasonable doubt" thinking behind the DPP decision. I have, as a victim of a crime, first-hand experience of how hard it is to get a conviction when the defendant, like Constable Hurley, evades responsibility for his or her actions

Even if a conviction wasn't recorded people will still regard Hurley as guilty. However, maybe some facts would come to light in the court case to show why Mulrunji Doomadgee was killed in such suspicious circumstances. Maybe some facts under examination in a court of law would surface that proved beyond doubt that Hurley lost his temper and unloaded on Doomadgee . The injuries sustained are clearly beyond what is reasonable anywhere, especially, in a QPS watch house.

I think most people would think it very reasonable to suspect that the DPP were taking care of their own here. I certainly wouldn’t blame Indigenous peoples from holding firm to that belief given the QPS’s history here in Queensland in relation to indigenous deaths in custody.

Iain, you are defending a system that clearly doesn't work in certain situations. And I don't think it is a coincidence that it usually involves the more vulnerable and under-represented sections of our community. Justice hasn’t been served here and until it is peoples like Australia’s Indigenous will live in peril. Also, the QPS and its officers are generally too worthy a group to have that going against their good works.

You talk about a justice system that prevents "us" from peril. Tell me how it prevented Mulrunji and all the other victims of crime in Australia from peril. Our justice system didn't, it hasn't and it still doesn't. I don't pretend to know the answers to this difficult situation but there is something very wrong here and something needs to be done.