Bain – and antidote?
Friday, June 12th, 2009Calling evidence experts… Can anyone tell me why the Courts couldn’t have let the jury see half of the “paper run alibi” evidence? Why couldn’t jurors be told that David Bain was speculating about committing a crime, but it wasn’t murder, and it didn’t involve his family… and then let them hear and assess in […]
TV3 broadcasts “I shot the prick” tape extract
Friday, June 12th, 2009Here. Was it legal? As I understand it, there’s still an application before the High Court for access to the deleted part of the tape from the Court file. It might be happening right now. But I’m not aware of any decision granting access yet. TV3 told us that “the Supreme Court said the material […]
Sensational newsbreak: Bain worships devil, shills Coke
Thursday, June 11th, 2009I’m told that if you listen to the Bain tape backward, you can distinctly hear him saying “Oh here’s to my sweet Satan”. Also, if you speed up one passage, you’ll catch him saying: “Drink Coca Cola. Coke adds life”. [If you’re interested in our aural suggestibility, check out this fascinating site. You can listen […]
Breathless reporting?
Thursday, June 11th, 2009I was prepared to be outraged this morning. What the hell? I thought. The Supreme Court overruled the High Court and the Court of Appeal and prevented telephone confession evidence from David Bain going to the jury? What were they thinking? I’ve now read the judgment (note the bizarre url on Stuff’s website’s link to the judgment: […]
Defaming David?
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009I’m on RNZ’s Checkpoint and TV3 this evening talking about whether all those comments posted on social networking sites that say “Bain is guilty” (and colourful variations thereon) are defamatory. I’ve also been interviewed for an NZPA story. The answer: of course it’s defamatory to call someone a murderer. Yes, he could sue any number […]
The Bain of the media?
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009Team David has set up a very professional looking website, including a Bain blog, to raise funds for him. The site credits TV3, TVNZ and the NZ Herald for “their support in making this site possible.” I suspect that their role was restricted to allowing the site to use some photos. I hope so, anyway. […]
An alternative to defamation?
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009If defamation laws are broken, can we fix them? I’ve been thinking about what we could do instead. It seems to me that the biggest problem is process (defamation cases are notoriously expensive, technical, slow, and stressful). I thought I’d toss an alternative process around for discussion. How about a different way of protecting people’s […]
Reading the tealeaves
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009I’ve just been watching argument in the Supreme Court in the Simunovich defamation case. For those interested in the fairly arcane (but nevertheless quite significant) issues at stake, my sense is that the media don’t have the upper hand. The Supreme Court judges do not seem attracted to the idea that the media should be […]
Karla Cardno’s dad suppression case: not much of an issue
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009You might have caught me on TV3 last night explaining that it was worth a shot for Karla Cardno’s dad and his new wife to seek name suppression for their sex charges on the grounds that they’re going to get extra publicity given the notoriety of those past (but unconnected) events. If you’re het up […]
Oops?
Sunday, June 7th, 2009Did this Saturday’s NZ Herald, in publishing the information suppressed in the Bain trial, overlook the fact that the Supreme Court had recalled its judgment last month to make it clear that the publication restriction continued until further order of the court? The story doesn’t seem to be on the Herald’s website any more. The recall was […]
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