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Judgment date
Case number
M24/2012
Before
French CJ, Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell JJ
Catchwords
Criminal law – Murder – Accessorial liability – Appellant convicted of murder – Crown accepted guilty pleas from five other participants to lesser offences – Trial judge left to jury Crown case based on accessorial liability – Whether appellant could be convicted as accessory to murder when Crown had accepted pleas from all other participants to lesser charges – Whether trial judge should have left accessorial case to jury – Whether Crown could lead evidence that other participants murdered the deceased – Whether inconsistency between convictions of other participants and accused – Whether exercise of prosecutorial discretion an abuse of process.
Words and phrases – "abuse of process", "accessory", "aiding and abetting", "counselling or procuring", "principal", "prosecutorial discretion".
Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) – s 323.