Networked Knowledge - Media Report

This version of the report has been prepared by: Dr Robert N Moles
Underlining where it occurs is for editorial emphasis]

List of Australian, UK and USA miscarriage of justice cases
Article on Australian miscarriage of justice cases
Article on UK miscarriage of justice cases
Article on USA miscarriage of justice cases

On 14 December 2007 Sean Fewster of The Advertiser reported “Dennis Hood apologises to Judge Marie Shaw”.

It said that Family First politician Dennis Hood has "unreservedly withdrawn" his call for a District Court judge to be sacked. Mr Hood, a member of the state Legislative Council,last month called for Judge Marie Shaw to be dismissed after she imposed a suspended sentence upon a sex offender. Today, he said those comments were "misguided and unjustified". "I recognise that by making these assertions, I have caused considerable distress and embarrassment to Judge Shaw," he said. "I unreservedly apologise for the harm which I have caused to her."

Last month, Mr Hood called Judge Shaw "Adelaide's softest judge". He claimed that, in 2006, she "never sentenced" any of the 12 sex offence defendants over whom she presided. However, six of thosedefendants were acquitted and in the other six cases, the prosecution elected not to proceed. The Advertiser understands Judge Shaw intended to sue Mr Hood over the incident, which happened outside Parliament. In a statement today, Mr Hood said he wanted to apologise for his comments. "The statements I made were wrong," he said. "Of the 12 cases... six resulted in a finding that the accused was not guilty and in the remaining six the prosecution decided not to proceed with the charges. “Therefore, there was never any occasion for Judge Shaw to sentence any of the 12 persons charged with those offences because the question of sentence simply never arose."

He saidhe would also read out a formal apology at the next sitting of the Legislative Council.

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