Crown prosecutor (Australia)
Thus to ensure integrity and fairness in the judicial process,[6] it was deemed prudent to develop an independent body to deal with, what can be, often controversial and politically damaging decisions.
As their role is independent, they will always seek to provide the jury with all relevant and credible evidence that they have been presented with for an alleged crime,[10] without the intention of achieving victory or loss.
Counsel have a duty to see that all available legal proof of the facts is presented: it should be done firmly and pressed to its legitimate strength, but it must also be done fairly.” To clarify, the ODPP is the main prosecutorial body responsible for representing the Crown in criminal trials.
Duties of disclosures relate to instances whereby the police and/or prosecutors do not disclose all available information to the opposing counsel in an attempt to disguise the true appearance of the facts.
In October 2014, ICAC established ‘Operation Hale’[16] to investigate allegations that in May 2014, Margaret Cunneen had advised her eldest son's girlfriend to fake chest pains to avoid a roadside breath test at the scene of a car crash.
[19] On 15 April 2015, via a 4:1 majority the High Court held in favor of the respondent (Cunneen), that the conduct was not corrupt within the meaning of the ‘ICAC Act’.
Mark Tedeschi AM QC is another high-profile Senior Crown Prosecutor who has faced accusations and allegations for misconduct and malicious prosecution.
[22] Tedeschi was a regarded Crown Prosecutor, securing convictions in high-profile trials of Ivan Milat, the political assassin Phuong Ngo and the infamous case of the baby killer Keli Lane.
They alleged Mr. Tedeschi tried to artificially inflate the strength of the Crown case by employing fiction, inadmissible reasoning and ambiguity that suggested Wood had been in a relationship with the deceased to delineate and convince the jury Caroline Byrne could not have committed suicide.
[23] In addition, former NSW Drug Squad undercover detective Paul Kenny states he was a victim of Tedeschi's prosecutorial tactics.
Crownies depicts the life of five recently graduated solicitors as they navigate the fast-paced and morally challenging workplace[26] that is the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, whilst working alongside crown prosecutors.
The main cast included: Todd Lasance as Ben McMahon, Hamish Michael as Richard Sterling, Marta Dusseldorp as Janet King and Jerome Ehlers as Rhys Kowalski.
In critical analysis, a Craig Mathieson article in the Sydney Morning Herald[27] drew correlations to the US hit show, Greys Anatomy.
This pertained to the “overlap of professional stress and personal relationships, the overt melodrama, the comic diversions.” Crownies was nominated for an Equity Award for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in March 2012.
[28] The show was starred by Marta Dusseldorp who played Janet King in the original show, and featured many of her other supporting actors including; Hamish Michael (Richard Sterling), Ella Scott Lynch (Erin O’Shaughnessy), Andrea Demetriades (Lina Badir), Peter Kowitz (Tony Gillies), Christopher Morris (Andy Campbell) and Indiana Evans (Tatum Novak).
The show was well-received with Ben Pobjie commenting that it was a “high-class act” that managed to overcome the “inherent staleness of legal drama”.
[29] The show received accolades and nominations with Marta Dusseldorp winning the Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama in the 2014 AACTA Awards.
