The Herald looks as though it's on another crusade. The lead headline on the website reads Guy trial: $1 million spent pre-trial and the story begins:
More than $1 million of public money was spent on the Scott Guy murder case before the trial even started.And the total figure will soar once the Crown prosecution and defence legal teams submit their final invoices for the trial which entered a fifth week.
Quite what the Herald is trying to prove here is anyone's guess. In general, we have a very good criminal justice system in New Zealand, although there will always be exceptions. And that comes with a price tag.
A fundemental tenet of the system is that every defendant is entitled to a competent defence, and that if it is beyond their means, the State pays for it by way of legal aid. The hang-'em-high brigade might begrudge taxpayer money being spend on paying lawyers to defend accused criminals, but it is the kind of thing that a civilised society ought do, and in New Zealand's case, does do.
4 comments:
As someone who lost a relative by the hands of a murderer, it was fundamentally important to our family that the young man had a chance to put his side of the story even though the evidence was over-whelming.
His lawyer, Mike Antunovic, was gracious and complimentary to my relative, waived his right to examine any of our family members and instead agreed that the registrar could read the statements made to the police instead.
I'm sure cynics out there will think criminal lawyers are scum defenders, but my experience is they are the people who talk for those who no one else defends.
I wonder what was the cost of the heralds investigation into the cost of the investigation?
Condolences to you Michael. Thank you for sharing that, especially your last sentence which is the essence of the whole criminal justice system.
Michael, I stand in awe of your commitment to genuine justice in the face of tragedy.
Those who regularly wheel out victims and cynically use their grief and understandable anger to call for the dimunition of the rights of accused persons (some of whom are innocent) should read your comment and hang their heads in shame.
As should the Herald, if KS is right about their motives in rnning that piece... and frnakly I can't see any other reason for it.
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