High Court's 7-0 Pell decision : Let us not forget that this scandal started with a hung jury, and the celebrity County Court Judge Peter Kidd

by Gannesh Sahathevan





Waleed Aly Interviews Chief Judge Peter Kidd On George Pell Verdict The Project will feature Victorian judge Peter Kidd. Few if any judges in Asia would consider this sort of publicity, but
Australian lawyers feel they need to reform Asia's judiciary (see story below).



The High Court's 7-0 decision overturning the conviction of George Cardinal Pell had its beginning in these events , documented by the The Standard:



AUGUST 2018
* The 1990s "cathedral trial" begins in the Victorian County Court in Melbourne.
* Pell pleads not guilty again to one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of indecent acts with a child, over incidents involving two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.


AUGUST 2018
* The 1990s "cathedral trial" begins in the Victorian County Court in Melbourne.
* Pell pleads not guilty again to one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of indecent acts with a child, over incidents involving two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.
SEPTEMBER 2018
* The jury is discharged, unable to reach a verdict following a week of deliberation. Some jurors weep.
NOVEMBER 2018
* A retrial begins. The jury members aren't told of the previous hung jury.
DECEMBER 2018
* Pell is found guilty on all charges by an unanimous jury.

MARCH 2019
* Pell is sentenced by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd to a maximum of six years in prison. He must serve at least three years and eight months in jail before being eligible for parole. He will be a registered sex offender for life.

The public has a right to know what Kidd told the second jury which led them to reach an unanimous decision when the previous jury was unable to reach one.
END 

TO BE READ WITH 
Law Council Australia, NSW Law Soc & NSW Bar should learn from & stop lecturing Asia's lawyers: High Court's Pell decision, defamation decisions suggest that Australia's judicial system is in need of urgent reform

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