Attorney General (NSW) v Lipton [2012] NSWCCA 156

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Attorney General (NSW) v Lipton [2012] NSWCCA 156 Hearing dates: 25 May 2012 Decision date: 20 July 2012 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Hoeben JA at [70]; McCallum J at [71] Decision: (1) Set aside any order made by Finnane DCJ in the District Court at the time of or consequent upon the judgment delivered on 24 February 2012 requiring the Commissioner of Police to produce and permit the respondent to have access to documents pertaining to the relationship between police and Ms Melanie Brown. (2) Direct that if such documents are in the custody of the Court, they be returned to the Commissioner of Police. (3) Direct that any further application for production of such documents be made by way of a fresh subpoena issued for that purpose. Catchwords: APPEAL - criminal - appeal against interlocutory judgment or order - ruling with respect to admissibility of evidence not a judgment or order - whether ruling on objection to production of documents in answer to subpoena is amenable to appeal - Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5F; Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 131A

EVIDENCE - public interest immunity - whether party called to produce material not the party asserting public interest immunity - discussion of State of New South Wales v Public Transport Ticketing Corporation [2011] NSWCA 60; Derbas v R [2012] NSWCCA 14 - Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 130 and 131A

EVIDENCE - public interest immunity - offender sought material relating to conduct of suspected informer for use at sentencing hearing - whether public interest immunity capable of being overcome for the purposes of sentencing - whether appellate court is in a position to perform requisite balancing exercise - whether offender demonstrated a real and not hypothetical issue with respect to sentence - Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), s 130 Legislation Cited: Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5F Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), ss 130, 131A Cases Cited: Alister v The Queen [1984] HCA 85; 154 CLR 404 Attorney General (NSW) v Chidgey [2008] NSWCCA 65; 182 A Crim R 536 Attorney General v Kaddour [2001] NSWCCA 456 Attorney General (NSW) v Stuart (1994) 34 NSWLR 667 Cain v Glass (No 2) (1985) 3 NSWLR 230 D v National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children [1978] AC 171 Derbas v R [2012] NSWCCA 14 Lipton v R [2010] NSWCCA 175 Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co Ltd v The Commonwealth [No 2] [1913] HCA 19; 16 CLR 178 Marks v Beyfus (1890) 25 QBD 494 Nagi v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) [2009] NSWCCA 197 R v Fandakis [2002] NSWCCA 5 R v Lipton, Richard [2010] NSWDC 187 R v Richard Lipton (No 2) [2010] NSWDC 295 R v Steffan (1993) 30 NSWLR 633 Regina v Richard Lipton [2011] NSWCCA 247 Sankey v Whitlam [1978] HCA 43; 142 CLR 1 State of New South Wales v Public Transport Ticketing Corporation [2011] NSWCA 60 WO v Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) [2009] NSWCCA 275 Texts Cited: J Anderson, N Williams SC, L Clegg, The New Law of Evidence (2nd ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2009) at [131A.3] Category: Principal judgment Parties: Attorney General for New South Wales (Applicant) Richard Alexander Lipton (First Respondent) Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) (Second Respondent) Representation: Counsel: