“Having escaped the lion’s den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat"
Is there any way this could have gone worse for him?
Is there any way this could have gone worse for him?
Coulda been a full Oscar Wilde and resulted in charges being brought back to him after they had otherwise already been dropped.
When Mr Lehrmann faced criminal trial for sexual assault in the ACT Supreme Court in 2022, he was provided with material that both parties could have used to mount their arguments.
This material was not meant to be made public, because it was never used in open court. This is known as the Hearne v Street obligation.
However, it aired on the Seven Network’s exclusive Spotlight interview with Mr Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann repeatedly gave evidence in his defamation case, on at least four occasions, that he did not provide Seven with anything more than an interview.
Justice Lee said he was “satisfied” Mr Lehrmann made false representations to the court about at least part of this material.
“In the absence of any other explanation, the inescapable conclusion is that Mr Lehrmann provided access to Mr Llewellyn to the relevant photographs,” he said.
While conceding he was “not some sort of roving law enforcement official”, Justice Lee left the door open for another court to pursue the alleged breach of the Hearne v Street obligation.
There seems to be a potential new path of legal inquiry here aside from any potential new case by the ACT. Punishments aren’t severe, but he could basically be found in contempt of court and fined or (unlikely) imprisoned.
So what (if anything) is next?
he’s got a hearing on another rape trial in June. here’s hoping for some justice
I don’t know anything about the law, the first paragraphs says:
Bruce Lehrmann has lost his defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, bringing to an end a sprawling legal saga which has gripped the nation.
Really? No more legal stuff? Lehrmann can’t take this further?
Like @anathema_device@bne.social said, he could appeal. But the judge also ruled that if he had needed to award damages, they would have been very low. So if he did appeal, he’d have to not only prove that the judgment was wrong to go against him, but also that damages should have been much higher. That makes the idea of an appeal much less…appealing.
Mr Lehrmann would have been entitled to more than a nominal award but as the above analysis demonstrates, his award of ordinary compensatory damages would be very modest. Hence any augmentation of damages occasioned by the aggravating conduct, comes from a very low base. If it had been necessary to assess damages in favour of Mr Lehrmann, the appropriate and rational relationship between the actual harm sustained and the damages awarded would lead to total damages of $20,000.
I guess it is his Toowoomba rape trial
Balance of probabilities? “More likely than not”? Is this usual for these types of legal cases?
I was under the impression decisions had to be made “beyond a reasonable doubt” and justice was based on an onus to prove guilt (e.g. innocent until proven guilty).
This seems an insanely dangerous way of determining guilt.
There was a criminal trial a while back, but it was declared a mistrial after some jury fuckery. They declined to re-prosecute because of the detrimental effect it would have on Higgins’ mental health. As others have said, this is a civil trial, specifically, Lehrmann trying to sue the people Higgins went to in the media to tell her story for defaming him.
Truth is a defence to defamation, so proving that the claims were true (in this case, as others have said, to the balance of probabilities, rather than beyond all reasonable doubt) is a way to win a defamation case as a defendant.
Not a lawyer, but I believe the level of proof depends on whether its a civil trial like this one, or a criminal trial, like the previous one which fell apart after juror misconduct. So basically the level of proof is lower when it’s about dollars rather than jail time.
This was a defamation case, i.e. a civil case. Ten’s defence was that their imputation that Lehrmann raped Higgins was substantially true, so the judge had to rule on whether or not the rape happened. It is not a criminal conviction and there won’t be one in this case because the criminal trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct.
I think the correct response is: “Duuuh???”.
The guy is a fucking creep. Just LOOK at him. Guilty as sin.
Ok Franz Joseph Gall
