The Acquit Blog

New Year’s Eve 

Downtown central Auckland, New Zealand I hadn’t been out for a while. There were four of us. Bill was the president of a motorcycle gang. His friend Rangi was a big Maori guy. They had been in prison together. Kelly was Bill’s girlfriend, over the last week. She was very young and thin, with a face like an avatar. We were an unusual group. I was a bankrupt lawyer. We loaded up on pure Peruvian coke and Long Island Iced Teas and headed downtown. Rangi was so drunk he was sick in the back of the car. With a compassion born of doing a lag together, Bill cleaned him up and we found him a new shirt. Downtown was pumping. We headed for a small club in an old art deco building next to the waterfront. The security at the door let us in and we paid money to a bored looking girl at a desk who ushered us down the stairs. The club was packed and the carpet was wet with booze. As we stood in the queue at the bar, I noticed a tall blonde girl a few people over. I was pretty high. Thi…

I bought a book online. I felt a little guilty as I didn’t have enough money to pay the rent due Monday. Then I felt a little guilty for not buying it from a bookshop. But at the same time, it was amazing how easy it was over the net. I was soon awash in the warm expectation of the book arriving in the post. The book was by an American woman who I had never previously heard of. That was the other good thing about the internet. It was so easy to find people who were such good writers who you had never heard of. People like Raymond Carver. I was yet to buy one of his books. But apparently, he was a bit minimalist. Speaking of minimalism, the woman whose book I had ordered won a major literary prize for a short story that was only one-page long. Being naturally lazy and non-talkative this really appealed to me. Anyway, this was on a Friday. Come Monday morning I still didn’t have the money for the rent. Then later in the day a client who owed me money finally coughed up what he owed me a…

Book review Flight of the Fantail Steph Matuku Huia Publishers
I asked for it in the local bookshop. It was in the children’s section at the rear of the shop. The assistant found it for me. When I paid for it, the teller asked; do you want it gift wrapped? Clearly thinking I was buying it as a gift for my teenage child. When I said no and paid for it, he said enjoy. I didn’t say anything. I could have done a long ramble and said well, it’s written by a novelist in Taranaki who I follow on Twitter. And I am interested in writing so I want to see how you write a novel. But I didn’t. I was just happy to have bought it. So, I took the book home and looked at it carefully, read the back cover, looked at the copyright page, the dedication. The book was over 350 pages. I thought, wow, this is serious stuff. This is pro level. The whole book, it’s weight, it’s feel, it’s look shouted quality. I could tell there was love in the book. I read the first chapter. The writing was clear like the wa…

Been listening to the Gail Maney case on the RNZ podcast. Mentions my blog-post but not the post or whose blog it was. It's interesting how corporate media try to take ownership of these cases. Its as if they think they are the only people who know about it. The reality is many people know about this case. And of course there are others as well. It seems there is no doubt that Dean and Leah went missing in the same week. The case hinges on the evidence of the two male witnesses who were gave the seven and ten statements respectively. The whole case was pre-cellphone so there is no evidence of location which these days is really important. There is a lack of objective evidence to corroborate what people are saying. Literally no forensic evidence at all.

With prison numbers heading towards 12000 questions are being asked about the cost. There are a number of issues to consider. Firstly the alarming numbers of people who are being sent to prison when the Sentencing Act itself says there should be the least restrictive outcome. The Sentencing Act has never been implemented in the way it was intended. Section 27 of the Act has been completely ignored. People miss out on electronic sentences for economic reasons. Lack of stable housing. And then at the other end we have the Parole Board applying a restrictive approach to letting people out on parole. Then we have cuts in legal aid eligibility so that people end up representing themselves. Together with the denigration of Defence lawyers generally. It all adds up to perfect conditions for an exploding prison population. And of course the biggest issue of all. The fact the system largely consists of white people putting brown people in jail. Since 1980 the Justice system has just become pr…

Firstly you can defend the charge and get acquitted. There would then be no penalty such as disqualification. This assumes you have a valid defence and the Judge finds in your favour. Secondly if you have no defence and have to plead guilty you could apply for a discharge without conviction. This is rare when a charge carries a minimum statutory penalty such as disqualification. But it does happen if you can satisfy the statutory criteria. Thirdly if you have a history of disqualification you may be able to get a community based sentence substituted for disqualification. This is what lawyers call a section 94. And fourthly there may be special reasons that allow the court not to impose a disqualification such as not driving very far or just reparking the car.