Ludwig,

I wouldn't call that half the story but you are entitled to your opinion. And what else could the prosecution ask to try to salvage their case? And how could anyone medically differentiate between a deliberate or accidental knee during a fall?

Anyhow I was making a point. The media have gone on about Hurley supposedly punching Mulrunji to death and have belittled the knee hitting during fall thing. Now the first prosecution medical expert says that the death most likely occurred during a fall. The prosecution don't even seem to be dignifying the punching theory that formed the basis of the coroner's decision. They seem to be stringing the bow of Hurley intentionally hitting Mulrunji with his knee (while accelerating at 9.8m/s2) during the fall or alternatively doing a WWF style knee drop in the six or seven seconds after the fall that other people didn't witness. They seem to be taking the DPP theory because it fits the facts and twisting it into something deliberate on Hurley's part to get a prosecution. That is how the newspaper reports make it sound. Maybe the prosecution have something better. You can't trust media reports.

If Hurley did take the WWF approach then his balls are bigger than the rest of him. It is okay for a wrestler to do that on canvas but would you do it on concrete? What if Mulrunji moved and he hit the concrete floor on one knee? Even if you wanted to desperately injure someone would you risk doing that to your knee? Do you weigh 115kg? Remember for the theory to hold Mulrunji would have to be still okay after the fall and there was no reason to think he wouldn't roll over.

Fair enough Ludwig. Oh and i weigh 100 even! haha!

Did you hear about how the jury asked the judge why Roy Bramwell wasn't called?

Their duty is to consider the trial evidence ignoring all they have heard from the media. That is one of the essentials of a fair trial.

The Australian for example described Bramwell as an "independent witness" and suggested that he witnessed Hurley punch Mulrunji to death. In real life he had a motivation to dislike police as he was at the station for questioning after allegedly beating up two women. He said that he saw Hurley punch Mulrunji in the head and then kick him. Medical evidence ruled out the kicking and strongly suggested that punching didn't happen without ruling it out but given the six or seven second time frame it would have been a beauty of a punch. The coroner relied upon his punching allegations but modified it to suit her conclusion.

It was an extremely good prosecution tactic to keep him out as he could only assist with the assault as head injury didn't cause the death and tactically they already had a much more credible Aboriginal to give evidence of assault. Defence would have made the prosecution case look really bad if they had been able to cross examine him. However the defence didn't object. Perhaps they thought the prosecution were struggling anyway. Only they know.

In any case the jury seem to be relying on media reports as they apparently consider him a relevant witness. Although the trial has seemed to generally go quite well for Hurley, if I was Hurley I would be extremely worried. If the jury found Hurley guilty after that it might not be an actual mistrial but those comments suggest something with a similar practical flavour. The jury should only look at the evidence before them. Hell if the prosecutor could get any gain from putting in Bramwell he would jump at the opportunity. The jury seem to be anchored by the media reports.

Mjpb, I found this very interesting;

Crown prosecutor Peter Davis; “Is what you have come to grips with is that you fell on Mr Doomadgee inflicting fatal injuries, but you didn’t notice?”

Chris Hurley; “Yes”

Davis; “Your 100kgs something and there is 70kgs something of Mr Doomadgee, you fall with some force, you do the damage but you just don’t recall it, is that your whole case here?”

Hurley; “Yes it is sir”

(Townsville Bulletin 16 June 07)

So this is the entire issue, apparently. If this is so, everything else is a distraction.

The ONLY question is whether it was possible for Hurley to inadvertently exsert deadly force with his knee while his body essentially fell to the side of Mulrunji… or in a manner that Hurley could reasonably and honestly interpret as being to the side of Mulrunji as per his unequivocal statement given very shortly after the event that he had fallen to the side of Mulrunji.

Ludwig,

That does seem to be an issue for the prosecution albeit worded to suit prosecution. Obviously all medical experts acknowledged that "deadly force" could be just 115kg Hurley's knee hitting. Obviously also rapidly moving huge Hurley would only balance on one knee for a split second and would have ended up on Mulrunji's right or left. He says left.

It is a question to be answered in the context of Hurley the cop who works to help the aboriginal community.

It is also a question to be asked in the context of a witness saying that it looked like he fell on top.

It is a question that needs to be asked in the context where Hurley obviously had no idea how Mulrunji died and did not try to explain his injury.

Finally, it is a question to be looked at practically. Wouldn't it be astounding if Hurley could be guaranteed to remember where his knees were at all times during a downstairs fall (falling objects accelerate at 9.8m/s2 so falls happen fast) after worrying about Mulrunji's head during the fall and the emotions of Mulrunji dying afterwards? What if he had just taken a punch in the jaw?

So what are the alternatives? Hurley deliberately deciding to hit with his knee during the fall? Hurley doing a knee drop in the 6 or 7 seconds after the fall when noone could see what was happening below the floor level above?

Why wouldn't Bramwell dob him in for a knee drop? He made all sorts of allegations to try to make Hurley look like a killer. He said Hurley punched Mulrunji in the head. He said Hurley kicked Mulrunji. He might not have seen what was happening downstairs but he would have seen 200.33cm Hurley do a knee drop. I assume noone would suggest that he was trying to protect Hurley?

I'd suggest that the question has an obvious answer. Will the jury "get it" is probably now the question. We shouldn't have long to wait.

Ludwig,

I wanted to say yesterday that I was impressed with the way you understood that issue however I ran out of words. So many rumours and innuendo's have plagued Chris Hurley and he has been through so much. It was good to finally see some meeting of minds between us toward the end.

Thank you for the long discussion regarding Chris Hurley and Mulrunji. May Mulrunji now rest in peace and people stop using his name for personal gain.