Australian lawyer takes big-mouth cops to court

Police so often "just KNOW" (often falsely) who the guilty party is and this time a cop was foolish enough to say so publicly

LLOYD Rayney's defamation case against police was bolstered today after a judge ruled additional material could be used. In the Supreme Court this afternoon, Justice Wayne Martin said three police press conferences could be considered alongside one in which he was named as “the prime and only suspect” in the murder of his wife Corryn Rayney.

Mr Rayney is basing his multi-million-dollar defamation case on the words spoken by Detective Sergeant Jack Lee on September 20. But Justice Martin ruled three previous police press conferences could be “relied upon to give context and meaning”.

Mr Rayney appeared in court today and sat on the legal bench directly behind his lawyer Martin Bennett.

His wife – a former Supreme Court registrar – was last seen alive at a bootscooting class in Bentley on August 7, 2007. Her body was found in a bush grave in Kings Park nine days later.

Mr Rayney strenuously denies any involvement in his wife’s murder and has not been charged over her death.

“We have cleared the last major hurdle in the Supreme Court defamation action,” Mr Bennett said outside court. “We move now into the meaty part of giving discovery of documents proving the extent of loss and damage that Mr Rayney has suffered. “We can look in early May, to discussing with his honour a listing for a trial date in this matter. “Those three press conferences can now legitimately be relied upon by Mr Rayney to give context.”

Mr Bennett said Mr Rayney has two arguments. “The first is if you take those words by Detective Sergeant Lee on 20 September, those themselves are a hideous defamation,” he said.

“The second argument, which is an alternative argument, for those people in the media who then reported to the people of Western Australia and Australia what Detective Sergeant Lee meant by the word suspect. “That provided a context or vernacular colour to what he then said on the 20th that made it even more damning. "It gives the context, the colour, to the statement but by itself we have a course of action…"

He said the words in the September 20 media conference are “capable in a legal sense of conveying the imputation that Mr Rayney killed his wife”.

Outside the court, Mr Rayney told the media he hoped for a fair trial. "Like I've said all along, I hope that they do a thorough job and I hope that the result is fair," he said.

He said the proceedings had enacted an "obvious" impact on his profession as a barrister. "I'm still available to be briefed if people wish to brief me," he said.

Mr Bennett said he hoped the matter would go to trial by the end of the year. The case will resume with a directions hearing on May 12.

Original report here






Virginia man seen naked in own home cleared of indecent exposure charge

Good to get this one finally cleared up. It was only because a cop's wife made the complaint that he was charged. And the wife's evidence was real cop's evidence -- rather "tailored", shall we say

A JURY took less than 20 minutes today to acquit a Virginia man accused of indecent exposure while walking naked around his own house.

The Washington Post said Erick Williamson, 29 - dubbed "the naked guy" - was spotted wandering around his house in the nude by a passerby who was walking her seven-year-old son to school.

Prosecutors said he made no effort to cover himself and was intentionally exposing himself, but jurors at Fairfax County Circuit Court found him not guilty of indecent exposure.

"It's a weight off my shoulders," Mr Williamson said of the verdict, which came after he appealed his earlier conviction by a judge. "I think it sets the record straight. It was an innocent action," he added.

Mr Williams had told the court that he had never intended to expose himself at his home in Springfield, Virginia, last October. But he insisted that he had a right to be naked in his own home.

Original report here



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