Kyla
04-14-2004, 04:29 AM
Killer demands his trial notes
By MICHAEL OWEN-BROWN and GREG KELTON
April 14, 2004
AUSTRALIA's worst serial killer, John Justin Bunting, has complained he is unable to organise his appeal because prison authorities are refusing to give him his notes from the trial.
"I have no idea if or when they will ever return my paperwork to me," Bunting - convicted last year of 11 murders - told the Supreme Court.
Lawyers for Bunting's accomplice in the "bodies in the barrels" killings, Robert Joe Wagner, yesterday began arguing for leave to appeal against his conviction on seven counts of murder.
Wagner pleaded guilty to three other murders.
Although Wagner's team of three lawyers is being funded by the State Government, Bunting has been refused further funding and is representing himself.
Bunting yesterday asked Justice John Perry to try and force prison management to hand over his trial notes so he could prepare his argument for leave to appeal, which will be heard on May 24.
"I'm still unprepared to do this. I asked for a copy of all my legal paperwork in writing. They sent me a three-year-old incomplete copy of the Correctional Services Act," Bunting said.
However, he conceded he had a laptop computer in his cell that contained most of the trial transcript and Justice Brian Martin's summing up of the trial.
Justice Perry said he would do what he could to ensure Bunting got access to his notes - but made it clear he was not interested in any grudges he may hold against executives in the prison system.
Wagner is applying for leave to appeal on 84 grounds he claims led to a miscarriage of justice.
They include that he should have been granted a separate trial from Bunting.
His lawyer Paul Cuthbertson, QC, said four of the killings - those victims whose bodies were not found in barrels in a bank vault at Snowtown - were "out of kilter" with the other offences and should have been the subject of separate trials.
Wagner's grounds of appeal also claim Justice Martin made errors in his directions to the jury and should not have admitted some evidence.
The leave to appeal hearing is expected to take two weeks.
Costs associated with the case have reached $16.2 million.
A further $4.2 million is available in the State Budget to meet costs this year with appeals and the trial of Mark Ray Haydon.
Three murder charges against Haydon will proceed this year.
Figures given to State Parliament last year put the cost of the trial at $15.4 million to September 30, 2003.
Of that, more than $7.8 million had been paid to defence lawyers.
The Advertiser
By MICHAEL OWEN-BROWN and GREG KELTON
April 14, 2004
AUSTRALIA's worst serial killer, John Justin Bunting, has complained he is unable to organise his appeal because prison authorities are refusing to give him his notes from the trial.
"I have no idea if or when they will ever return my paperwork to me," Bunting - convicted last year of 11 murders - told the Supreme Court.
Lawyers for Bunting's accomplice in the "bodies in the barrels" killings, Robert Joe Wagner, yesterday began arguing for leave to appeal against his conviction on seven counts of murder.
Wagner pleaded guilty to three other murders.
Although Wagner's team of three lawyers is being funded by the State Government, Bunting has been refused further funding and is representing himself.
Bunting yesterday asked Justice John Perry to try and force prison management to hand over his trial notes so he could prepare his argument for leave to appeal, which will be heard on May 24.
"I'm still unprepared to do this. I asked for a copy of all my legal paperwork in writing. They sent me a three-year-old incomplete copy of the Correctional Services Act," Bunting said.
However, he conceded he had a laptop computer in his cell that contained most of the trial transcript and Justice Brian Martin's summing up of the trial.
Justice Perry said he would do what he could to ensure Bunting got access to his notes - but made it clear he was not interested in any grudges he may hold against executives in the prison system.
Wagner is applying for leave to appeal on 84 grounds he claims led to a miscarriage of justice.
They include that he should have been granted a separate trial from Bunting.
His lawyer Paul Cuthbertson, QC, said four of the killings - those victims whose bodies were not found in barrels in a bank vault at Snowtown - were "out of kilter" with the other offences and should have been the subject of separate trials.
Wagner's grounds of appeal also claim Justice Martin made errors in his directions to the jury and should not have admitted some evidence.
The leave to appeal hearing is expected to take two weeks.
Costs associated with the case have reached $16.2 million.
A further $4.2 million is available in the State Budget to meet costs this year with appeals and the trial of Mark Ray Haydon.
Three murder charges against Haydon will proceed this year.
Figures given to State Parliament last year put the cost of the trial at $15.4 million to September 30, 2003.
Of that, more than $7.8 million had been paid to defence lawyers.
The Advertiser