Assignment
For this assignment, we were assigned to analyze a famous criminal trial. We had several options of cases to choose from. Each of these cases revealed both strengths and weaknesses of the legal and justice system.
Introduction
Several principles of justice help ensure a court case procedure generates unbiased, consistent, and reliable decisions so that all citizens get a fair trial in court. The principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt makes sure that the accused person cannot be proven guilty until there is enough evidence to ensure that the person committed the crime or the right to silence which means that you do not have to answer a question on any matter, so they don’t incriminate themselves. But during the Andrew Mallard case, we were able to see that when these principles of justice are under-minded there can be huge consequences that can cause some innocent people to suffer.
Who Is Andrew Mallard?
Andrew Mark Mallard was a British-born Australian suffering from bipolar mood disorder who was falsely convicted of the murder of Pamela Lawrence in 1995 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Case Summary (Andrew Mallard Case)
Pamela Lawrence, a mother of two, was killed at her posh jeweler boutique in 1994. The police were under a lot of pressure to identify her killer, and they narrowed it down to Andrew Mallard, a daydreaming drifter with a history of mental illness. Andrew Mallard would give one of the most unusual “confessions” in criminal court history, and nearly every aspect of the judicial system would crumble. He’d be imprisoned for 12 years before being exonerated thanks to a palm print and a pig’s head, as well as the tireless efforts of his family and friends.
How Did Andrew Mallard Get Convicted
Andrew Mallard was charged for the murder of Pamela Lawrence after multiple police interviews in which he speculated on how Ms. Lawrence was killed and drew a picture of a wrench that police say he used to kill her. Going on with this information from an ABC news report states that Mr. Mallard claimed he was given information by police to repeat back to them and police used that and treated it as a confession and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Here are some principles that were undermined during the Andrew mallard case which caused him to get convicted and receive a long 20-year sentence.
The Right To Be Treated Equally
This is the right to state that everyone should be treated fairly by the court and police forces, even if they have committed a crime or been the victim of a crime. It doesn’t mean they have to be treated differently from everyone else. But at the time of this case, he was not treated with the same fairness as others he was treated as a criminal from the beginning even though the WA police force still didn’t have any evidence to prove this. They also did cruel things to him like abusing him mentally and physically, they did not consider Andrews’s alibi evidence, telling him he is a liar and they made up evidence to make it sound like he had done the crime. Overall, he was clearly not treated as an equal and this principle of justice was not shown almost ever during this case
Right To Silence
The right to silence is the right not to answer a question on any matter that you would not like to answer or comment on when arrested by police so that people don’t incriminate themselves. This right was not thought about during the Andrew Mallard case as when he was interviewed by police on multiple occasions what they did was use his mental disorder (Bipolar mood disorder) to force him to answer questions in ways to make it seem like he had confessed to the crime. Police did not give him the right to be silent as they bombarded him with very direct and leading questions giving him no option to not answer the question.
Reliable evidence
Reliable evidence is evidence that can be proved to be correct by DNA, eyewitness, security footage, fingerprints, objects, clothes, blood, confessions, or indirect circumstantial evidence (evidence that doesn’t prove directly that something happens) to prove the person being convicted matches with evidence from the crime scene. During the Andrew Mallard case, this principle of justice was heavily undermined as the evidence the police used to convict Andrew Mallard were confessions that he apparently said during an unrecorded interview and a drawing/sketch of a wrench that he was forced to draw after he was beaten and stripped by police. Furthermore, Andrew Mallard was suffering from a mental disorder called bipolar mood disorder which the police took advantage of by making him repeat information or stories fed to him by them in this time recorded interviews. These unfair things resulted in the conviction of Andrew Mallard.
What Happened After Andrew Mallards Conviction?
After Andrew was given a 20-year prison sentence, his family worked hard to set the innocent Andrew Mallard free and with the assistance of WA Shadow Attorney-General John Quigley and journalist Colleen Egan along with an alibi, they were able to present a pattern of evidence and manipulation against Mr. Mallard and among the prosecution papers was a pathologist’s judgment saying it would be impossible for a wrench to have caused Ms. Lawrence’s injuries after a test on a pig’s head and with this new information, the High Court quashed his conviction and finally, after 12 years in prison Andrew Mallard was released in 2006 and as compensation for being wrongfully convicted the state government gave him a compensation of 3.25 million dollars after this Andrew went on to graduate from university with a degree in fine art and traveled to London to start a master. Unfortunately, even though his life started finally looking good after spending so long in prison and being wrongfully convicted in 2019 on the 18th of April he was struck by a moving vehicle while crossing a road in Sunset Boulevard, California, United States, and unfortunately died at the age of 56.
Conclusion
This case goes to show that although the Australian legal system is not known for making mistakes and is pretty reliable in most cases when it does make a mistake and the principles of justice are undermined there can be huge consequences that can cause innocent people to receive harsh punishments it also shows the professionalism of the Perth police force was not very good during this case overall this case was a bad representation on both the Perth Police and the Australian legal system and I hope a case where innocent people get treated unfairly and get undeserved punishments never happens again.