Trial date set for Guy case
September 27th, 2011 at 2:00 pm by David FarrarThe Dom Post reports:
The man accused of murdering Feilding farmer Scott Guy will stand trial in June next year.
Ewen Kerry Macdonald – Guy’s brother-in-law – appeared before Justice Alan MacKenzie in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning.
His murder trial will be held on June 5 in Palmerston North and is expected to take six weeks.
As I read this, I reflected how good it is that the Guy family are spared having to go through what is effectively two entire trials, now that deposition hearings are the exception not the rule.
The trial is going to be incredibly hard on the Guy family. I’m pleased for them that the law change (initiated by Labour IIRC) means they only have to go through it once – especially as it was inevitable that a depositions hearing would end up in committing to trial anyway.
September 27th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
June next year sounds a long way off. Just how slow can the courts get?
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Except now unnecessary trials are more likely to make it through, as Judge David Saunders alluded to when this case ended
The fact is that depositions were a great way to resolve trials, and the removal of them has led to an increase in trials, and, ironically, a greater backlog in the Courts!
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Oh, come on F E Smith, don’t ruin a great story with some inconvenient facts.
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
The Christmas family get together, will be a blast this year,NOT
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Yeah and what about the kids?
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
The evidence must be pretty compelling.
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
No necessarily, bruno. To be committed for trial the prosecution only has to establish a prima facie case against the accused, which is done on the papers. It does not need to be compelling at all.
Vote:September 27th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Well I’m with FES on this one. Having, in a previous life, conducted dozens and dozens of jury trials (both Crown and defence), I can vouch for the fact that depositions hearings at which witnesses gave evidence were extremely effective in narrowing issues, shortening subsequent trials and – again speaking from personal experience – actually leading to guilty pleas without the need for a costly jury trial. I haven’t practiced under the new “justice by expedience” regime but I am reliably informed by various “stakeholders” (lawyers, prosecuting agencies, court officials and judges) that trials without “live” depositions beforehand, add to rather than reduce difficulties.
Vote:September 28th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
maybe now the truth will finally come out.
Vote:What happened to those missing chocolate labradors ?
Where they buried with the red herrings ?
Were they found in the orange datsun ?
with the stub axles used to weight them down.