defence team repeatedly named another man as the killer ?

tali1 | 00:50 Tue 20th Nov 2007 | Criminal

4 Answers

in recent Lesley molseed case, the defence team repeatedly named another man as the killer -are they allowed to do this?

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NORMANTHEDOG

of course they can,as long as it can be proved,which it was.

tali1

Question Author

hey? but it was proved it wasn't another man as the defence's client (castree ) got convicted

fredpuli47

What they say in court is protected by 'judicial privilege'.The lawyers canot be sued for any statement made in the course of procceedings. It's their duty to put forward the defence case to the best of their ability and if that means saying someone named did the crime that's what they'll do.It could be unfair to anyone tried if they ,or their lawyers, were prevented from blaming someone else .

jno

freedom of speech often involves conflicts like this. Normally your right not to be accused of murder is stronger than, say, a newspaper's right to accuse you of it. But a lawyer's right to secure justice for his client is even stronger than that, so he can say what he likes in court, and (unless some sort of court order is in place) a newspaper can report his words. I think that's all fair enough.

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