Many legal folk that I know think there is little chance of BRS ever seeing the inside of any court including military. They argue that will all the “evidence” in the public domain that he will never be seen to get a fair trial, and no jury could be possibly selected that has not seen details already and has not formed some opinion.
I would argue that is why he progressed the defamation case at all.
That said, none of these blokes are experts at Military Law and there may be a different set of rulles for jury selection. BRS probably thought of that though.
Each of those examples is an example of acting out of self interest which is perfectly normal.
There’s no self interest in admitting you played a part in committing a war crime, quite the opposite.
Honestly think that is the stupidest argument I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard it more than once.
On that logic, no serial killer would ever face trial.
And speaking for myself, I have no prejudgements on the guy.
I only know that he lost a civil case where certain allegations were defended to the required level.
So saying a fair jury is impossible is also silly.
This has been suggested over and over again and refuted every time, because can you imagine the precedent being set where people launch defamation proceedings to try and escape criminal convinctions.
It’s not how it works. It will never be how it works.
He’s completely lost in the court of public opinion though.
I always thought he should have just vehemently denied all allegations time and time again, (which he did) then state he would have sued them all if he had the money and left it at that, and quietly not accept any offers of financial assistance.
I don’t know how it works, but the Legal Minds that we know say that it is so.
Your legal minds must have missed their law school lectures on bench only trials
I spoke to someone today who had hardly heard of BRS and hasnt followed the trail at all, so there are people who havent been prejudiced by the wall to wall coverage.
As to SAS speaking out, there is the Annexe to the Brereton report of Crompvoets interviews with SAS who had served in Afghanistan.
That kicked off the investigations by the journos.
After the Annexe got into the public domain, she was subject to threats.
ADD
Dutton, who was Defence Minister at the time, said she wouldn’t get another contract with Defence.
I draw the line when people drink out of two prosthetic legs.
That is really interesting I reckon, as his name is absolute crap now. My son and ex-ADF mates who were based in Darwin and Afghanistan when BRS was around, have mixed views on the guy, but all say he has such a high opinion of himself that he would not actually care what anyone else thought. All were surprised at his defamation action. None think he will just disappear either.
Except his Lawyers would never ask for that, and it is a right to have a trial by jury.
People with huge egos like BRS would have it badly damaged if the War Memorial in Canberra takes down his display and his reputation trashed.
I reckon he wont disappear either. Maybe join the Shooters party? lol
DPPs can apply for a bench trial where they can convince the judge it is in the interests of justice to proceed as such
Regardless, your line of logic would suggest people like Pell could never be fairly prosecuted for offences due to overwhelming negative publicity of the accused. It is a ridiculous conclusion to make
In the widely used Psychopathy Checklist, psychopaths have a narcissistic and incredibly inflated view of their own importance and self-worth. They have huge egos . They’re self-centered to an incredible degree.
Do the test and see how you do !!
Correct, in a legal sense. His actions have turned him into a criminal.
I initially scored only a 4 then redid an answer and scored 5. DAMN. I’m kinda disappointed I fared so lowly.
Irrelevant. Sure individuals do things that are not always logical or in their best interests, we have been guilty of that. However, there was more than one witness that spoke out against BRS, including some of his fellow SAS members.
Will the explain the heads in my freezer?