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?
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