R v Obeid [2015] NSWSC 897

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Obeid [2015] NSWSC 897 Hearing dates: 26 June 2015 Decision date: 07 July 2015 Before: Johnson J Decision: Application for trial by Judge-alone refused Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – application for judge alone trial – Applicant charged with wilful misconduct in public office – consideration of principles concerning applications for judge alone trial – whether extensive media publicity will adversely affect Applicant's trial –steps available to mitigate impact of adverse media publicity – likely issues in the trial operate in favour of maintaining jury – application dismissed Legislation Cited: Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 Crimes Act 1900 Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Jury Act 1977 Cases Cited: Arthurs v Western Australia [2007] WASC 182 Blackstock v R [2013] NSWCCA 172 Fairfax Digital Australia and New Zealand Pty Limited v Ibrahim [2012] NSWCCA 125; 83 NSWLR 52 Jamal v R [2012] NSWCCA 198 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd v District Court of NSW [2004] NSWCA 324; 61 NSWLR 344 Lloyd v McMahon [1987] AC 625 Montgomery v HM Advocate [2003] 1 AC 641 Potts v R [2012] NSWCCA 229; 227 A Crim R 217 Priest v State of New South Wales [2006] NSWSC 12 R v Abrahams [2013] NSWSC 729; 230 A Crim R 74 R v Jamal [2008] NSWCCA 177; 72 NSWLR 258 R v Jamal [2013] NSWDC 20 R v K [2013] NSWCCA 406; 59 NSWLR 431 R v McNeil [2015] NSWSC 357 R v McNeil (No. 2) [2015] NSWSC 757 R v Quach [2010] VSCA 106; 27 VR 310 R v Simmons and Moore (No. 4) [2015] NSWSC 259 R v Yuill (1993) 69 A Crim R 450 Skaf v R [2008] NSWCCA 303 Texts Cited: Chesterman, Chan and Hampton, "Managing Prejudicial Publicity - An Empirical Study of Criminal Jury Trials in New South Wales" (February 2001) Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Edward Moses Obeid (Applicant) Regina (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr JS Stratton SC; Mr J Tunks (Applicant) Mr PW Neil SC; Ms SF Beckett (Respondent)