Kim Evans wrote an excellent summary for the Justice Gap about the Criminal Appeal Lawyers Association (CALA) conference on Wrongful Convictions from last week. I quote: “At our Justice Gap debate, Francis FitzGibbon QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, kicked off proceedings by asking why should anyone care about the wrongly convicted.” Do we still care or do we put it out of our minds thinking it can never happen to us?
Richard Foster “explained that their test is ‘safety; not likelihood of innocence, with ‘safety’ being a broader test of innocence. He said it is not necessary to prove innocence, only that the conviction may be unsafe, although of course the commission is interested in innocence.
He went on to say that at the heart of justice is the right to a fair trial and that the focus of the CCRC is not just on the individual, or on the individual case, but safety, and the upholding of the safe trial process.” I agree and this reminded me of course of the Zeigler case.
Another Wrongful Convictions case they brought up was from Dr. H.H. Crippen. If I understood correctly, in December 2009, the Criminal Cases Review Commission declared that court of appeal will not hear this case for a posthumous pardon. It should.
Click here and read a lot more about this Wrongful Convictions conference.
Thanks, Kim, for alerting me and for allowing me to quote!