FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Justice for Robin Bain

Thursday 10 December 2009

David Bain: Counter Spin

The Justice for Robin Bain have more advertisements in provincial daily papers today and the number of signatures on the petition at http://davidbain.counterspin.co.nz has reached 1,000 and rising.

The Bain trial raises a number of questions about our justice system:

Should dead people be able to defend themselves against defamation?

Should a lay jury be expected to deal with expert testimony without professional guidance?

Should there be limits to how much a defendant can promote their case publicly and still reap the benefits of a jury trial?

In the case of high publicity retrials like the Bain case where discussion of the case has been in the media for quite some time and the chance of prejudicing a jury are quite high, should the trial be held overseas in Australia or UK?

Should there be a limit on the number of days of court hearings for a criminal trial?

What are the limits for legal aid in any single case?

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool, or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice. Yet when Luxon (and senior MP Chris Bishop) tried to defend the indefensible with the same wildly inaccurate claim, there are not a lot of positive explanations left on the table.... More