Acquittal in High-profile Murder Case

Case Overview

Our Client was charged of the murder of two police officers, Gary Silk and Rod Miller, in 1998. Our Client was found guilty and sentenced in 2003 to life imprisonment. Subsequent appeals in the next few years did not succeed.

In 2014 (?), the Client contacted Stary Norton Halphen about the possibility of an appeal based on new evidence from several sources, including that the Client was not at the scene of the crime on that night and that another accused had indicated to a prison officer that he was solely responsible for the murders. SNH lodged a Petition for Mercy in 2016 seeking an appeal. He changed his mind despite an early indication that the Attorney-General would allow an appeal.

Defence Strategy

In 2018, Simon Moodie lodged a second Petition for Mercy with new evidence, in particular that police statements used at the trial had been improperly amended to shore up the prosecution’s case that there were two offenders present on the night. Consequently, the Attorney-General referred the matter to the Victorian Supreme Court to consider some technical points. Soon thereafter, further evidence of significant police misconduct in preparing evidence for the client’s trial was uncovered. As a result, there was a four-week hearing in IBAC ( the Independent Broad-based Anticorruption Commission) which documented at length the extent of this police misconduct.

Conclusion

An appeal was lodged on the Client's behalf, and in 2020, the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed the Client's sentence and ordered a retrial. At the retrial, the Client was found not guilty of the murders and acquitted.