Australia Australia - Lynette Dawson, 34, Sydney, Jan 1982 *Arrest* #2

[Morrisa]

7 News Sydney‏Verified account @7NewsSydney now37 seconds ago
Chris Dawson has appeared in court over the alleged murder of his wife Lynette. Chris Dawson's barrister is going to call 'Teachers Pet' journalist Hedley Thomas as a witness saying the podcast may have ruined his clients chance for a fair trial. #7News

 

[Cliff Hardy]

7 News Sydney‏Verified account @7NewsSydney now37 seconds ago
Chris Dawson has appeared in court over the alleged murder of his wife Lynette. Chris Dawson's barrister is going to call 'Teachers Pet' journalist Hedley Thomas as a witness saying the podcast may have ruined his clients chance for a fair trial. #7News

I think we all knew Dawson's defence would play the 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' card at some point. Just surprised it has happened so early.

Without The Teachers Pet there would never have been an arrest. So it was a totally necessary 'evil.'

 

[Trooper]

7 News Sydney‏Verified account @7NewsSydney now37 seconds ago
Chris Dawson has appeared in court over the alleged murder of his wife Lynette. Chris Dawson's barrister is going to call 'Teachers Pet' journalist Hedley Thomas as a witness saying the podcast may have ruined his clients chance for a fair trial. #7News

A big gamble. .. . It doesn't automatically follow that a bloke has an easier time of it if it is a judge only trial, which is what , it seems, the CD Barrister is coming at.

And, barristers get a whole lot more of scrutiny in a judge only trial, they are the foci of the judges concentration, undiluted by jury considerations. A double handicap.

That there will be a trial, should Chris Dawson live that long, I have no doubt at all. Chris might try and pretend that he is too old to instruct his solicitor, is having brain fades regularly... even so. ..

 

[Cliff Hardy]

A big gamble. .. . It doesn't automatically follow that a bloke has an easier time of it if it is a judge only trial, which is what , it seems, the CD Barrister is coming at.

And, barristers get a whole lot more of scrutiny in a judge only trial, they are the foci of the judges concentration, undiluted by jury considerations. A double handicap.

That there will be a trial, should Chris Dawson live that long, I have no doubt at all. Chris might try and pretend that he is too old to instruct his solicitor, is having brain fades regularly... even so. ..

That they will play the 'I'm too old and I've lost the plot' card is just as predictable as that they would play the 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' card.

 

[sosocurious]

Before Christmas, when Mr Dawson was granted bail, he was ordered to live with his wife Susan at their house on the Sunshine Coast, report to police daily, surrender his passport and not go overseas.

The changes mean he can now fly interstate for legal appointments but must give police 48-hours' notice, and can travel 25 kilometres from his home instead of 20.

He continues to deny he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance.

The case will return to court on May 9.

Diary 'critical' to helping Chris Dawson beat murder charge, says lawyer

 

[sosocurious]

That they will play the 'I'm too old and I've lost the plot' card is just as predictable as that they would play the 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' card.

"He well knew that police were reinvestigating this very serious matter and he interviewed witnesses in the full knowledge that they had previously been actual witnesses in the [two previous] inquests, and he knew the risk of contaminating them and affecting the reliability of the evidence," Mr Walsh said .......................................

Outside court, Mr Dawson's solicitor Greg Walsh told journalists prosecutors had only provided him with the partial brief two days ago.

Included with it, he said, was a copy of a hand-written diary kept by Lynette Dawson's mother.

"We have never seen that before — in both inquests there was an edited transcript but we have now been provided with the actual hand-written copies of the diary and they are very significant," Mr Walsh said.

"That type of evidence is critical in a case like this, it helps my client significantly."

Diary 'critical' to helping Chris Dawson beat murder charge, says lawyer

 

[Morrisa]

Before Christmas, when Mr Dawson was granted bail, he was ordered to live with his wife Susan at their house on the Sunshine Coast, report to police daily, surrender his passport and not go overseas.

The changes mean he can now fly interstate for legal appointments but must give police 48-hours' notice, and can travel 25 kilometres from his home instead of 20.

He continues to deny he had anything to do with his wife's disappearance.

The case will return to court on May 9.

Diary 'critical' to helping Chris Dawson beat murder charge, says lawyer

Also from your link...
Mr Dawson, 70, appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court for the first time today, and sat quietly next to a group of visiting school students at the back of the courtroom.

 

[Cagney&Lacey]

Also from your link...
Mr Dawson, 70, appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court for the first time today, and sat quietly next to a group of visiting school students at the back of the courtroom.

That makes my stomach churn.
Any other decent human being would be sitting beside his family including his wife and daughters or have they all finally seen the light and deserted him

 

[DRT]

I think we all knew Dawson's defence would play the 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' card at some point. Just surprised it has happened so early.

Without The Teachers Pet there would never have been an arrest. So it was a totally necessary 'evil.'

By saying 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' and other comments about Hedley is also attempting to discredit Hedley as a witness.

""He well knew that police were reinvestigating this very serious matter and he interviewed witnesses in the full knowledge that they had previously been actual witnesses in the [two previous] inquests, and he knew the risk of contaminating them and affecting the reliability of the evidence," Mr Walsh said."

Adding the date of his next appearance to the thread.
"The case will return to court on May 9."

 

[they'll get you]

The court was told 4,500 pages of material had been given to Mr Dawson's legal team, but police were still struggling to sort through 100 gigabytes of documents, audio files and videos.

The material was collected from team behind The Teacher's Pet podcast last year, which examined Mrs Dawson's disappearance.

Magistrate Megan Greenwood granted the prosecution a 12-week extension to build their evidence brief, given the "voluminous nature" of the material.
Diary 'critical' to helping Chris Dawson beat murder charge, says lawyer

 

[they'll get you]

By saying 'Teachers Pet has ruined my client's chance of a fair trial' and other comments about Hedley is also attempting to discredit Hedley as a witness.

""He well knew that police were reinvestigating this very serious matter and he interviewed witnesses in the full knowledge that they had previously been actual witnesses in the [two previous] inquests, and he knew the risk of contaminating them and affecting the reliability of the evidence," Mr Walsh said."

Adding the date of his next appearance to the thread.
"The case will return to court on May 9."

It's a double edged sword really, The Teacher's Pet might have a vague impact on Dawson but if it wasn't for that podcast he still might be roaming free.
Onya Headley, that's all I can say.

Mmmmm was it banana 1 or banana 2 sitting next to school children eh?
I'm not liking that creepiness and hopefully the judge will see it as well.

 

[sosocurious]

Today he veered away from 9News when asked how he was dealing with the pressure.
"I'm not under pressure at all," his brother Peter Dawson replied.
.................
He said his client was slowly realising how difficult the case would be.
"It's a very daunting thing to know you've got a huge team of investigators and crown prosecutors and solicitors against you," Mr Walsh said.
"I think he's a bit overwhelmed by that."

Teacher's Pet podcast 'could have jeopardised Dawson case'

 

[sosocurious]

It's a double edged sword really, The Teacher's Pet might have a vague impact on Dawson but if it wasn't for that podcast he still might be roaming free.
Onya Headley, that's all I can say.

Mmmmm was it banana 1 or banana 2 sitting next to school children eh?
I'm not liking that creepiness and hopefully the judge will see it as well.

Outside court, Mr Walsh said the podcast posed a "risk of contaminating and affecting the reliability of the evidence".

Asked if the case had been jeopardised by the podcast, Mr Walsh said: "Not only the accused's case but the prosecution case.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/tea...evidence-in-dawson-trial-20190214-p50xpv.html

 

[Cagney&Lacey]

Here is a link to the full interview with Chris’ lawyer. Quite a lot of interesting comments made. I’m astounded to hear that his lawyer is a one man band. That may work in Chris’ favour in delaying the inevitable. His lawyer confirms that it will take 18 months to 2 years for him to get through all the evidence presented and be ready for trial

His lawyer describes Chris as A GOOD FAMILY MAN
His hesitation when asked if he has any glimmer of confidence in beating this conviction was noteworthy


Twitter

 

[Trooper]

It is the job of defence lawyers to be publicly optimistic and forcefully positive, no matter what the rumours, size of evidentiary papers, height and width of the prosecutor, eye colour of the possible judge, in the face of all this, they need to seek 'doorstop' interviews extolling the virtues of their client, and the dastardly rorts of the Dept. Of Public Prosecution.

It's all part of the theatre.

The rubber hits the road at trial, when the innate good manners and common sense of a defence lawyer becomes the currency of the day, still in the service of his client.

All this palaver is distributing bread upon the waters of a far flung jury pool, one crumb at a time.

 

[k-mac]

Here is a link to the full interview with Chris’ lawyer. Quite a lot of interesting comments made. I’m astounded to hear that his lawyer is a one man band. That may work in Chris’ favour in delaying the inevitable. His lawyer confirms that it will take 18 months to 2 years for him to get through all the evidence presented and be ready for trial

His lawyer describes Chris as A GOOD FAMILY MAN
His hesitation when asked if he has any glimmer of confidence in beating this conviction was noteworthy


Twitter

yes. all they have to work with is stall tactics to delay the inevitable.
and why wouldn't they??
what he is facing means ultimately he WILL DIE IN JAIL.
chris is enjoying all the family time, home cooked meals and nightly spooning with his beloved.

this tactic should be sliced up and time constraints placed. if that means dawsons lawyer needs to higher more help....so be it....
it shouldn't be the crowns problem his defence is inadequate.

as usual chris is milking the system and winning.

 

[Via Marple]

It is the job of defence lawyers to be publicly optimistic and forcefully positive, no matter what the rumours, size of evidentiary papers, height and width of the prosecutor, eye colour of the possible judge, in the face of all this, they need to seek 'doorstop' interviews extolling the virtues of their client, and the dastardly rorts of the Dept. Of Public Prosecution.

It's all part of the theatre.

The rubber hits the road at trial, when the innate good manners and common sense of a defence lawyer becomes the currency of the day, still in the service of his client.

All this palaver is distributing bread upon the waters of a far flung jury pool, one crumb at a time.

I wonder what the chance might be, for me to be selected for jury duty. Last time, 2017, not chosen...

 

[DRT]

Here is a link to the full interview with Chris’ lawyer. Quite a lot of interesting comments made. I’m astounded to hear that his lawyer is a one man band. That may work in Chris’ favour in delaying the inevitable. His lawyer confirms that it will take 18 months to 2 years for him to get through all the evidence presented and be ready for trial

His lawyer describes Chris as A GOOD FAMILY MAN
His hesitation when asked if he has any glimmer of confidence in beating this conviction was noteworthy


Twitter

The thing that struck me was that the defence want full copies of Hedley Thomas's raw interviews.

Any journalist with an opinion picks the points that support their opinion unless it is purely an investigative process. People that are not experienced in public speaking or nervous may answer questions ambiguously or with doubt and a good investigative journalist/interviewer will clarify ambiguity or uncertainty by re-phrasing questions confirming with the interviewee. The hesitation someone shows at the start of an interview may not reflect what they mean to say.

I know this case is a bit unusual with the podcast but I have never heard of a journalist's notes having to being given to the defence. I have heard of journalists spending time in gaol for not providing sources to courts.

 

[sosocurious]

The thing that struck me was that the defence want full copies of Hedley Thomas's raw interviews.

Any journalist with an opinion picks the points that support their opinion unless it is purely an investigative process. People that are not experienced in public speaking or nervous may answer questions ambiguously or with doubt and a good investigative journalist/interviewer will clarify ambiguity or uncertainty by re-phrasing questions confirming with the interviewee. The hesitation someone shows at the start of an interview may not reflect what they mean to say.

I know this case is a bit unusual with the podcast but I have never heard of a journalist's notes having to being given to the defence. I have heard of journalists spending time in gaol for not providing sources to courts.

Yes and it sounds as though Hedley handed over every last gig. Was it 10 or 100 gb.
I wonder what surprises there could be for CD hiding in the many gigs.

John Lehmann the Australian editor would not comment on Mr Walsh's claims as the matter is before the court.
He did say however that "Investigative journalism has always played an important role in the examination of cold cases."

Nocookies
The Teacher’s Pet: Chris Dawson in court on charge of murdering wife Lynette
Jessica Cortis

 

[John Dillinger]

Can anyone please point me to the discussion thread for Bradley Edwards Claremont Serial Killer. Thanks