Cardinal George Pell’s failed appeal and why his chances in the high court are slim

Two out of three judges decided Pell’s defence team’s ‘13 solid obstacles in the path of a conviction’ fell short Cardinal George Pell’s formidable defence team presented Victoria’s county court and the court of appeal with what they described as “13 solid obstacles in the path of a conviction”, which they said proved the abuse of two choirboys by Pell in 1996 could not have happened.This week, two out of three appellant judges decided that those 13 reasons fell “well short” of such a conclusion. It was not the role of those judges – chief justice Anne Ferguson, court of appeal president justice Chris Maxwell and justice Mark Weinberg – to decide Pell’s guilt. Rather, the question they needed to consider was whether the 12 jurors who found Pell guilty in December must have held a reasonable doubt as to his guilt based on the evidence before them; not that they could have, or should have. This was vital to Pell’s appeal on the key ground that the jury made an unreasonable decision. Continue reading…
Via: Cardinal George Pell’s failed appeal and why his chances in the high court are slim