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Handy info for Contempt lawsuits
By Steven | January 21, 2008
Today’s DomPost has some useful information for those advising the media on contempt of Court issues. The average length of time between committal and trial, in the District Court and the High Court, is just under a year. Add to that an average of six to nine months between arrest and committal, and you’ve got more than 18 months between arrest and your average trial. For big cases, it’s likely to be longer. Given that the Court of Appeal has said that in the normal course of things, potential jurors’ memories of particular publicity can be expected to fade in six to eight months, that means publicity around the time of an accused’s arrest will have to be seriously splashy and prejudicial before it will be taken to have created a real risk of affecting the fairness at trial.
Topics: Contempt of Court | Comments Off on Handy info for Contempt lawsuits