Contempt of Court
« Previous EntriesSiemer’s right-to-jury case
Friday, June 11th, 2010Predictably, Vince Siemer is not happy about the Supreme Court’s 17 May decision to cut his contempt sentence to 3 months instead of 6. (In fact, he has applied to have it recalled. Good luck with that, Vince).
For someone who regards the NZ judiciary as largely corrupt, he’s a glutton for punishment: he goes back […]
Siemer wins reduction in sentence for contempt
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Vince Siemer has reshaped the law of contempt in New Zealand. The Supreme Court has ruled 3-2 that the Bill of Rights right to a jury trial applies to those charged with contempt, since they face potential jail terms of more than 3 months. But since it’s unfeasible to give all contempt respondents jury trials, […]
Solicitor-General not going Whale hunting
Thursday, January 14th, 2010The Solicitor-General has decided not to pursue Mr Oil for contempt of court “at this stage”, though he says he supports the prosecutions for name suppression. He adds that contempt proceedings “remain an option” if Mr Oil’s offending continues or escalates, but would probably be brought after the suppression breaches trial.
Twittering in the courtroom
Saturday, December 12th, 2009It’s been allowed in the US and Australia, with an Australian judge saying:
I believe that the public has a legitimate right to be fully informed of proceedings, particularly proceedings such as (the iiNet case), which have attracted considerable public interest. Twittering can serve to inform the public in a more speedy and comprehensive manner than […]
Contempt announcement looming
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009At the R v the Internet conference last week Attorney-General Chris Finlayson said there’s a government announcement on the law of contempt looming. A reference to the Law Commission perhaps?
Fact Suppression
Sunday, November 29th, 2009Which is worse: our name suppression laws, or the media’s coverage of them?
Today, the Sunday Star-Times leads with a story headlined “Identity of high profile drug accused kept secret”.
The story is about a familiar one: public figure gets name suppression; cue outrage.
Never mind that this particular defendant’s name was not suppressed between her arrest in […]
Upcoming seminar on the Internet and suppression issues
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009The Law Commission, InternetNZ and the Ministry of Justice are hosting a seminar on the Internet and the courts. It will be looking at issues such as:
• Undermining of suppression orders
• Lack of jurisdiction over material hosted outside NZ
• Online discussion of crimes and trials potentially […]
Sure enough…
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009The Solicitor-General has applied for Vince Siemer to be held in contempt of court for breaching the court order that he remove from his website his article about a suppressed HC judgment. (This time, he has sensibly just gone for a three-month jail term, seeking to avoid the Bill of Rights right-to-jury issues that continue […]
Siemer in contempt again?
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009Yet another chapter is written in the Vince Siemer saga.
In this episode, Vince decides that a High Court order suppressing publication of a decision doesn’t apply to him. The decision concerned some pre-trial rulings in concerning the Uruwera defendants, so it’s pretty big deal. Justice Winkelmann suppressed the decision, it seems, out of concern that […]
Clayton’s defence
Friday, July 31st, 2009Provocation. The defence you use when you’re not really putting on a defence.
The end of the Weatherston trial is a relief to Sophie Elliott’s family, the nation… and (for much less serious reasons) to me personally. Over the past few weeks I’ve received a string of calls from reporters wanting me to comment on the […]