High profile prosecutor faces accusations

Deborah Cornwall | ABC 730 | 12 March 2012

Gordon Wood's murder conviction over the death of his girlfriend Caroline Byrne was quashed by the NSW Appeal Court leading to questions being asked about other cases overseen by prosecutor Mark Tedeschi.

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CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: The career of Australia's highest flying prosecutor is under attack after a scathing judgment from the New South Wales Appeal Court which threw out the murder conviction of Sydney man Gordon Wood over the 1995 death of his girlfriend, model Caroline Byrne. Criminal lawyers have called for a sweeping review of the cases overseen by Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi. He may face a formal complaint over his conduct after the appeal judges found he relied on fiction and dangerous reasoning in the Wood case. Reporter Deborah Cornwall has investigated other cases where the prosecutor has found himself accused.

DEBORAH CORNWALL, REPORTER: For more than two decades, Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi has been the star performer at the most infamous murder trials in the country. From serial killer Ivan Milat and political assassin Phuong Ngo to the highly controversial case of baby killer Keli Lane.

POLICE OFFICER (May, 2003, police video): If something's happened to the child, now is the time to tell us.

KELI LANE, CONVICTED MURDERER: I don't know. Nothing happened. Nothing has happened to her.

DEBORAH CORNWALL: With so many scalps on his belt, it's hardly surprising Mark Tedeschi is a polarising figure, champion of crime victims and the prosecutor defence lawyers love to hate.

TIM ANDERSON, FORMER ANANDA MARGA MEMBER: It seems to me he's a zealot who wants to go for the win.

TONY BYRNE, FATHER OF CAROLINE BYRNE: Mr Tedeschi is a remarkable man.

DEBORAH CORNWALL: The murder conviction of Gordon Wood, one-time chauffeur to the late celebrity stockbroker Rene Rivkin was at the time one of his greatest triumphs.

JOURNALIST (Nov., 2008): ... be one the biggest wins you've had of your career, Mr Tedeschi?

MARK TEDESCHI, CROWN PROSECUTOR: Sorry, I can't comment.

DEBORAH CORNWALL: But two weeks ago, Tedeschi's brilliant career suddenly hit the wall. Three Appeal Court justices threw out the Wood conviction, ordering his release from jail immediately.

PETER MCCLELLAN, CHIEF JUSTICE, NSW COURT OF APPEAL: I have reviewed the whole of the evidence and have concluded that I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Gordon Wood murdered Caroline Byrne as charged.

DEBORAH CORNWALL: The appeal judges demolished the prosecution case in which Wood had been accused of hurling his girlfriend, model Caroline Byrne, to her death at The Gap, Sydney's most notorious suicide spot. But the most savage criticism was reserved for Mr Tedeschi, the judges accusing the prosecutor of failing his most basic obligations to put the case fairly to the jury. Instead, they said, Mr Tedeschi had tried to bolster the Crown case by resorting to fiction, impermissible reasoning and innuendo, including rumours Wood had been in a sexual relationship with Rivkin and a series of unsophisticated experiments which were used to convince the jury Caroline Byrne could not have committed suicide.

State prosecutor's reasoning in Wood trial 'dangerous'

Louise Hall, Geesche Jacobsen | SMH | February 25, 2012

THE state's top prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, has been strongly criticised for his conduct of the Gordon Wood trial, with the most senior of the appeal judges saying some of his reasoning was ''dangerous'' and ''entirely without foundation''.

Justice Peter McClellan found the trial miscarried because of Mr Tedeschi's closing address, in particular, his ''50 questions''.

''Asking questions, even in a rhetorical manner, and inviting the jury when considering its verdict to consider whether the applicant had provided satisfactory answers to the questions was an impermissible course for the prosecutor to follow,'' he said.

Justice McClellan said the submission that Caroline Byrne was thrown from The Gap using a ''shot-put action'' was ''an invention of the prosecutor … for which there was absolutely no support in the evidence''.

Nor was there evidence to support the proposition that Ms Byrne was killed because she knew confidential information about ''powerful people'', including the flamboyant stockbroker Rene Rivkin, for whom Mr Wood acted as chauffeur and personal assistant.

Rumours about a homosexual affair between the pair may have ''coloured'' the evidence, said Justice McClellan.

''The exploitation of public rumour and the use of mere innuendo to compensate for inadequate evidence of motive is not consistent with the obligations of a prosecutor to press the Crown case,'' he said

Late yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to comment on the criticism of Mr Tedeschi, who is no stranger to controversy and criticism. In 1990 he prosecuted the Hilton bombing case against Tim Anderson - a prosecution which led to a complaint by the NSW Bar Association seeking a finding of professional misconduct against him.

Mr Anderson had been convicted of the murder of two garbage collectors and a police officer killed when the bomb exploded outside the Hilton hotel in February 1978.

The Court of Criminal Appeal ruled Mr Tedeschi's failure to recall Crown witness and confessed bomber Evan Pederick after a change of the prosecution case had been unfair to Mr Anderson.

When the Bar Association tried to have Mr Tedeschi disciplined, the Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruled his actions in the Anderson case did not amount to professional misconduct.

Mr Tedeschi came under review for his role in the prosecution of former police officer - now solicitor - Paul Kenny, in the late 1980s. Mr Kenny was charged, but found not guilty, of perverting the course of justice. Eventually, a review of the cases by a former judge found witnesses had given false evidence against Mr Kenny but ruled allegations that one witness had been induced by Mr Tedeschi and another prosecutor to give a false statement against Mr Kenny were false. While John Nader, QC, argued that Mr Tedeschi overstated the case against Mr Kenny, he said he had not breached standards of competence or ethics.

A recent case by Mr Tedeschi - that of Keli Lane who was convicted of killing her baby , Tegan - is subject to appeal, with the conduct of the prosecution likely to come under the spotlight.

Judges troubled by 'killer point' in Wood case

Louise Hall | SMH | 31 August 2011

TWO judges hearing Gordon Wood's appeal against his murder conviction say key parts of the prosecution case ''trouble'' them, including the so-called ''killer point'' - that Wood knew where Caroline Byrne's body would be found.

In November 2008, Wood was convicted of murdering Ms Byrne by spear-throwing her from The Gap, a notorious suicide spot, on June 7, 1995.

Wood, who was jailed for at least 13 years, has maintained Ms Byrne, his girlfriend of three years, committed suicide.

In the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, the Crown prosecutor, Wendy Abraham, QC, said the couple's relationship was ''fracturing'' and Wood was concerned that Ms Byrne had knowledge of the serious illegal insider trading activity that Wood and his boss, the disgraced stockbroker Rene Rivkin, had allegedly engaged in over Offset Alpine shares.

Wood feared if their relationship ended, Ms Byrne may make the information public.

Justice Megan Latham said she found this motive, put forward by the Crown during the trial, troubling. ''I find the inference that she was killed because of some received knowledge she had of the inner workings of Rene Rivkin and his share trading to be based on almost no established evidence,'' Justice Latham said.

During the six-day hearing, Wood's barrister, Tim Game, SC, has criticised the scientific evidence of Associate Professor Rod Cross, a physicist who said Ms Byrne could not have run, jumped and landed head-first, some 11.8 metres out from the cliff face, and must have been thrown.

In her submissions yesterday, Ms Abraham said there was enough ''esoteric evidence'' to convict Wood, even if the expert evidence was dismissed.

''The 'killer point' was that the accused knew where the body was,'' Ms Abraham said.

The presiding judge, Peter McClellan, replied: ''The killer point troubles me greatly.'' He went on to say it would be ''pretty stupid'' for a murderer to lead police to his victim's body. Ms Abraham said that not only could Wood point out where Ms Byrne's body had landed, despite it being dark and the fact no one else could see anything, but he also knew what she was wearing and where to find her car.

''That doesn't make you a killer,'' Justice McClellan said.

He also questioned whether Wood and Ms Byrne were having anything more than the usual problems that occur in a relationship, as there was evidence of a ''strong attachment''.

Mr Game is asking for Wood's conviction to be quashed.

The hearing continues.