by BETTINA ARNDT – WHAT a circus. This week the Brittany Higgins/Bruce Lehrmann rape trial imploded when the jury was dismissed due to misconduct by a juror.
The case seemed to be heading for a hung jury after five days of deliberation, during which not a single question was put to the judge – which suggests that the jury was battling over beliefs rather than wrestling with understanding the evidence.
- The Higgins/Lehrmann trial has been aborted, and the jury dismissed.
- Not a single question was put to the judge – suggesting the jury was battling over beliefs rather than evidence.
- The media, also, has tossed aside any notion of fair treatment.
But then one juror appears to have taken it upon themselves to do their own research, coming up with an academic paper described by the judge as a discussion of “the unhelpfulness of attempting to quantify the prevalence of false complaints of sexual assault and a deeper, research-based analysis of the reasons for both false complaints and scepticism in the face of true complaints”.
EXPOSING
The paper apparently turned up in the jury room during tidying by sheriff’s officers, who accidentally knocked this juror’s document holder onto the floor, exposing the offending item.
The judge concluded the juror had breached her carefully explained instructions requiring jurors to rely only upon the evidence presented to the court.
That was enough for the whole thing to be called off.
The Higgins/Lehrmann trial has been aborted, and the jury dismissed. A new date, February 20, 2023, has been set for a retrial.
Announcing her decision, the judge gave strict orders for media silence prior to the new trial date but made an exception for reporting about the mistrial.
Higgins then tearfully addressed the media after the decision, reading a prepared speech, which led to Lehrmann’s lawyers referring Higgins to the court and to federal police.
They are also seeking urgent legal advice about whether Higgins could be charged with a criminal offence for the speech which breached laws around fair trials.
These latest twists in the ongoing saga provide further proof of the near impossibility of fair treatment for the accused in the trial, given the media’s involvement.
Despite the judge’s media blackout, there’s no doubt the media mob will continue their merry way, flaunting media ethics about the presumption of innocence with endless articles presenting their alleged version of events.
DEFENCE
Even after the jury started their deliberations last week, Elle magazine ran an article that said the court system should not allow defence teams to undermine the credibility of the alleged victims.
Additionally, the next day, The Sydney Morning Herald was happily writing about Higgins’ comments in the trial which alleged that political pressure had made her too frightened to go to the police.
And then, The Guardian, came up with a most peculiar article that contended courts were silencing assault victims while privileging the accused’s “right to privacy and reputation”.
And in doing so, it appears that these media may have tossed aside any notion of fair treatment and presumption of innocence for the accused. Something our justice system is premised upon.
Meanwhile, conservative media in Australia, particularly the smaller players like Sky News Australia or The Spectator, know all too well that Higgins’s team could potentially engage in defamation suits to silence anyone who presents an alternative view of the situation.
It means commentators like myself simply can’t afford to stick their necks out in public over this one.
So it has been maddening sitting back and watching as the media operators control the narrative throughout this whole saga forgetting the presumption of evidence.
So it goes on.PC
It takes two to tango. One will never dance again!!!!
Bettina you are fighting a battle in which your exposure of the truth is limited away from MSM when the legal battles become theirs to control. As a media analyst that has seen the tactics used by e.g. the #MeToo movement I now believe that a trial by jury is now impossible and now the social media. It is impossible for someone to be requested for a high profile case not to be affected by media coverage. The Higgins/Lerhmann case is one of the latest. During that trial for several days the media used one word to describe her non attendance ‘unavailable’ . Later she was shown receiving her degree and she let slip when she had to finish some of uni papers, those were the absent days and she was pleading mental breakdown. Shows the acts being put on. Margaret Cunneen is a great one to have on a legal team. Thank you for your hard work.
It’s not for taxpayers’ to know about compensation decision and payout. It’s a matter for the new Corruption Commission to investigate?
I am left wondering about the post trial fiasco when Higgins read from her prepared speach and the notion thast the AFP would be looking into whether there was any contempt of the court’s rulings. The AFP has been very quiet on this (or is it the media not being able to report about it?)
And had Mr Lehrman made a speech of s similar ilk professing his innocence and how the judicial system was non-symmetrical, whether the AFP might be more proactive in seeking a ruling of contempt on him.
Whatever happened to the legal principle (fundamental to our society), that a person is innocent until proven guilty? The prosecution FAILED to prove Lehrmann guilty, so by deduction, he must be found innocent. The (other) principle of double jeopardy means that he should NOT have to pay for. go through another trial.
Itr seems that the left quietly and smugly promoted this case for all they’re worth – via the leftish press – while all along pretending that they weren’t.
They’ve been at it for years, though, one way or another.
In modern times, they firstly hounded Tony Abbott incessantly, going back to his student days, making youthful liasons look like heinous crimes. They raked over his life minutely, trying to break him. Then eventually accusing him of misogynism, sending us all scurrying to our dictionaries. (The left dines out on sometimes poetic, hypnotic, accusatory phrases, like Keating’s “representative swill” and “the recession we had to have”. And recently, Albo’s alliterative policy-promises – that really weren’t promises, as it happens).
Then there was a cardinal of the catholic church, no less. (Well if you’re going to go on the attack, you might as well go right to the top)!
Then there was the totally contrived attack on Christian Porter, driving him right out of politics.
And others.
These latterly follow the pattern established by the USA democrats, aided and abetted by the left-wing press (just about all of them, now).
Hypocritical opportunism probably best describes it. Anything to sell newspapers or digital clicks and – hey – bring down some Liberal governments while you’re at it. Good sport, makes money for the news class and slowly erodes democracy.
What could be better – especially if they have now installed a leader trained in communism!
Yesterday Janet Albrechtsen wrote about the Women Lawyers Association where Loiuse Milligan was the guest speaker who condemned in her speech the women lawyers who defend the men. This trial from the word go would not have a jury able to go with an open mind. I have followed the circus since Miss Higgins first made a public appearance. The problem lies in the ACT legal system in which there can be no judge alone trial. I know a new trial is set for February 2023. I cannot see how this can go ahead. If a decision is made to dismiss the charge and the left media will go full belt. The only other option is to send it to the High Court. When do these women start to accept responsibility for their behaviour? I have had enough of this world Meetoo# movement. I am a retired media analyst . I come from an era when we knew how to deal with awkward situations. These young women need to grow up and mature, not turn on the waterworks every five minutes.
I agree with you 100% Betina. What a joke, the law is the law. It’s imperative that we stick to the facts, but the leftie media always plays dirty with their ‘win at all cost’ attitude. They should be ashamed of themselves. But it appears, feeling shameful is not part of there vocabulary or sense of decency. They need to remind themselves that they are playing with peoples lives, it’s downright dangerous and cruel.
FibbinHiggins the eternal victim. She was revealed as a serial liar, and the lefty media are complicit in promoting her ‘truth’ and flaunting the rules. Lehrmann has not got a hope of a fair trial. It should be thrown out
The complaining girlfriends are strangely silent now.
It intrigued me right from when the news alleging rape outside business hours inside Parliament House Canberra in a Cabinet Minister’s suite of offices that the complainant was seeking so much publicity and being supported by obviously like minded people politically.
But it all soon became part of the relentless negativity against Prime Minister Morrison and using the Labor Green tactics first used against Prime Minister Abbott and claiming he was a misogynist.
Whatever it takes.