A conclusion or a step toward a conclusion.
Heading this list are 3 with oldest first:
David Tamihere convicted of the 1990 murders of 2 Swedish tourists largely on the evidence of 3 secret prison witnesses. After his convictions, the body of one of the tourists Urban Hoglin was found buried inland wearing his watch which police had claimed to have found in the home of Tamihere after the secret witnesses had claimed Tamihere told them he'd dumped the bodies at sea. Despite that Court of Appeal (COA) denied Tamihere's appeal. 2 years ago 1 of the 3 witnesses was convicted on 8 charges of perjury relating to the case by private prosecution, the 2 other witnesses are being searched for by the private prosecutors remarkably without police being willing to help.
The case against David is a wreck now and he has an application filed under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPOM) which must surely result in either a pardon or referral to the COA to get it right this time.
Peter Ellis. The Supreme Court is pondering the 1993 case of Peter Ellis and the situation whereas the right of appeal ceasing with death but Justices Joe Williams and Susan Glazebrook threw a curveball into the arguments from both sides when they suggested that New Zealand didn't need to follow decisions set in any other country, and could establish an entirely new rule based on Tikanga Maori, being the Maori way of doing things and preserving culture. Specifically that the mana of dead is to be protected. Hence it could settle the issue of what is broadly seen as Peter being falsely convicted in a manner of interviewers inviting children to agree with an interviewer's suggestions or to make up and say things which appear incomprehensible with no supporting facts.
For the Court to claim credit for this seems mischievous because the Chief Mokomoko was pardoned in 1993 for being allegedly involved in the murder of the missionary Karl Volkner in the 1800s by the Justice Minister of the time Doug Graham possibly using the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, which is still law, whatever the case Mokomoko was pardoned lifting the burden from his family and seeing his mana restored.
A second chief Kereopa said to be involved in Volkner's death was pardoned in 2014 as part of the Ngati Rangiwewehi Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
Clearly, Peter should be posthumously pardoned to restore his mana, that of his family and finally relieve the NZ Justice system of a long term contempt by many New Zealanders over Peter's prosecution.
Scott Watson Another case made a mess of my the COA shortly enters its 3rd year of review by way of RPOM. A mystery ketch said not to have existed is tracked and confirmed by both witnesses and nautical experts. A 'mystery man' has been explained and it is not Scott Watson. A claim by the Crown that Scott made a 2nd trip ashore, after the Crown failed to prove Scott had ever met the couple let alone have them come aboard his yacht the Blade is debunked. That is despite the COA inventing evidence of the '2nd trip[ that never happened when dismissing the Watson appeal 2 decades ago. In the meantime, the 'magic and telling' critical evidence of 2 hairs said by 'comparison analysis' to belong to one of the victims, Olivia Hope, has been shown to be a junk science method - also revealing that the 2 hairs could not be those of Olivia.
Like the Tamihere case, where it is said perjury goes to the heart of a conviction, junk science does so equally devastatingly, it can be expected Scott's case will be resolved in some fashion by the RPOM either by a pardon or a referral to the COA.
Scott's case remains of high public interest since a number of books and documentaries including the most recent 'Doubt,' the deepest look into the case so far where the NZ public got to hear from witnesses who saw the mystery ketch but were never called by police, being ignored instead and one whose account was changed without her knowledge.
On the horizon cases:
Rex Haig. Any changes by the Supreme Court by virtue of posthumously pardon for Peter Ellis or even arguments against in a negative decision may open the door for Rex's family and possibly supporter Mike Kalaugher. It was Kalaugher, who along with Arthur Taylor, successfully prosecuted witness C in the Tamihere case and letting the public know his name, Robert Conchie Harris - now recognised as a life-long police informer who gained early parole for lying about an alleged 'confession' by Tamihere.
There is a long term issue remaining with the Haig case and that is the office of the Solicitor General refusing to confirm that it knew that the primary witness against Rex had confessed to the murder he later accused Rex of committing.
Gail Maney prosecuted for the disappearance of a fisherman, Deane Fuller-Sandys in a case where the body was never found but items, probably belonging to the man was on the shoreline or washed ashore. She is now having her case looked at by Auckland Lawyer and QC Julie Anne Kincaide with Tim McKinnell the ex-police detective that opened up the Pora case. Maney's convictions for Fuller-Sandy's death and that of Leah Stephens have been described as one of the worst yet miscarriages of Justice, and I think the public is going to be in for a shocking surprise. Men high on the suspect list for the murder of Leah Stephens were granted immunity for evidence against Gail and a man still in prison for the murders of both. Stephen Stone. Police had offered Gail immunity but she refused to give false evidence for a crime she didn't know about and 1 that may not have happened. Gail's case besides having no physical proof that can withstand scrutiny relies on the premise that she somehow had the capacity to 'order the death' of Fuller-Sandys by a man she hadn't met at the time. The case matches Watson for police malfeasance and many of the cases of the others here for the COA's rubber stamp of dodgy as convictions.
Mark Lundy. The case was thrown out last month by the highest Court in one of the most poorly understood uses of 'junk science' imaginable. The court flattered itself with the misunderstanding of a forensic junk science immunohistochemistry (IHC) crowning itself as the only Court in the world thick enough to allow IHC to be used. Not only that, but the Court explained what IHC did as a function in clinical biological testing on the known matter before saying that IHC, therefore, was able to do the same in a forensic science setting where the biological matter was unknown, aged and rotten. While ignoring hard fingernail DNA evidence taken from the nails of the 2 victims and analysed as coming from 2 unknown males. Victim fingernail DNA is resulting in scores of wrongful conviction cases in the United States to be overturned. Ironically, it was in the States where an attempt was made to use IHC evidence, but it was rejected at trial and upheld in the State appeal court. The case with a very little public objection to the double murder convictions is thought to be over for Mark Lundy. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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