Police blotter: Trojan horse leads to porn convictions

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"All valid evidence should be admitted and then anyone who violated the law, even if only to obtain evidence, should be prosecuted and if convicted, penalized."

I am an Australian citizen. Australia did not have a revolution and so is still bound tightly to English Law. At Australian Law,(and English)if anyone commits an offence, under any circumstances, the offender may be prosecuted. If evidence of another offence is discovered during the commission of an offence, (eg: unlawful entry by police) the two offences are considered separate and both may be subject to prosecution. The fact that a law was broken which led to the discovery of another offence does not taint the evidence relating to the second offence. This seems to me to be a much more logical approach.

There are safeguards in Australia against offical abuse. The safeguards known as the Judges Rules, whereby confessional material extracted by inducement, bribery or duress etc, is not admissable and, as it is an offence for an official to induce, bribe or threaten etc, confessional evidence is infrequently challenged in court.

The practice of disallowing evidence simply because it was discovered during the commission of a crime seems illogical to me.

There is no "Plea Barganing" in Australia, and the only speakers at a trial are direct witnesses. There are no "Imppact Statements" given by indirect or sectondary victems, (family members of the primary victem(s) etc.)

Mitigating circumstances are considered by the Judge when the sentence is handed down. Every case may be reviewed by a heigher court to ensure even-handedness in sentencing.

As both Australian and US Law own a common ancestory in English Common Law, I am surprised that more comment has not been made to the rules of natural justice, particularly the right of the accused to confront his accuser.

I believe on this point alone, the conviction was unsafe and should not stand.

Posted by: Mozzie   Posted on: 08/28/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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