Cardinal Pell's lawyers move quickly to file documents

CathNews
March 15, 2020

https://cathnews.com/cathnews/37484-cardinal-pell-s-lawyers-move-quickly-to-file-documents

Lawyers for Cardinal George Pell have already filed supplementary material with the High Court amid hopes of a quick decision in his appeal.

The Cardinal’s legal team were asked to file a short note on the evidentiary relationship between the two separate incidents of abuse of which he was convicted.

The note was filed on Friday night following the second and final day of his appeal.

Sources close to the case doubt the issue will impact the decision in any significant way.

Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, QC, now has until early next week to file a response to the note.

The full bench of the High Court has reserved its decision to be handed down at a later date.

Cardinal Pell is serving a minimum three-year and eight-month jail term for abusing two choirboys in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was Archbishop in the 1990s.

But he is vehemently maintained his innocence, with his legal team arguing that the jury was wrong to convict.

Cardinal Pell’s lawyers have argued that despite the credibility of the only living complainant, there were too many improbabilities for the jury to overcome without having a reasonable doubt.

Ms Judd ­argued that if the court found an error in the Court of ­Appeal’s judgment upholding the convictions for sex ­assaults on two choirboys, it should revisit all the evidence itself or send the matter back to the Court of Appeal.

Bret Walker SC, for Cardinal Pell, said either option would be an injustice because of delay. On Friday he urged the court to finalise the matter.