Neville Keith Cross

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Charge:	Toxic Materials (including burying)
Sentence:	"Fined NZL$45,000 plus costs"
Years Imprisoned:
Year Crime:	2005
Year Convicted:	2007
Year Cleared:	2010
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	New Zealand
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:	Waitoa
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Wallace Corporation, Ltd. was wrongly convicted in September 2007 along with co-defendant, Waitoa, New Zealand plant manager Neville Keith Cross, by New Zealand's Environment Court of criminally violating the Resource Management Act by burying capacitors from a meat processing plant that allegedly contained highly toxic PCBs. The sentencing was held in November 2008, during which the Wallace Corporation, Ltd was fined NZL$35,000, and Neville Cross was fined NZL$45,000, plus prosecution costs of NZL$20,000 and NZL$7,500 respectively. Under the law Cross faced up to two years in prison, but he was not sentenced to any jail time. New Zealand's High Court ruled in October 2010 that the judge ignored the evidence that the "capacitors presented no risk to the environment now or in the future." Consequently, the law wasn't violated by burying them, and the Court quashed the convictions of Wallace Corporation and Neville Cross. A third defendant, Barry James Dew, did not appeal his conviction, but the appeals court reduced his sentence from NZL$40,000 to NZL$20,000 and 200 hours of community service. The Court's ruling specifically stated Dew's conviction would be overturned if he applied ot do so: "[238 ] I am conscious that the grounds on which I have allowed the conviction appeals by Mr Cross and WCL have equal application to Mr Dew, who did not appeal his conviction. If so advised, he can make appropriate application to this Court (to the Hamilton Registry where these appeals were heard) by 22 October 2010." (Wallace Corporation Limited v Waikato Regional Council HC Hamilton CRI 2008-404-404 [2010] NZHC 2002 (7 October 2010))"
Conviction Caused By:	The judge didn't follow the law in finding the three defendants guilty.
Innocence Proved By:	"New Zealand's High Court ruled in October 2010 that the judge ignored the evidence that the "capacitors presented no risk to the environment now or in the future." Consequently, the law wasn't violated by burying them, and the Court quashed the convictions of Wallace Corporation and Cross. Dew didn't appeal his conviction, but the Court's ruling specifically stated his conviction would be quashed for the same reasons as his two codefendants if he applied to do so. "
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	Wallace Corporation Limited v Waikato Regional Council HC Hamilton CRI 2008-404-404 [2010] NZHC 2002 (7 October 2010)
Information Location 1:	http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2010/2002.html
Information Source 2:	"Toxic burial case- conviction ditched, By Chris Gardner (staff), Waikato Times, October 12, 2010"
Information Location 2:	http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/farming/4223302/Toxic-burial-case-conviction-ditched
Information Source 3:	"Toxic chemicals buried on Waikato site, Waikato Times, September 22, 2007"
Information Location 3:	http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/33257
Information Source 4:	"Wallace Corp defendants hit with highest fines total under RMA, Environment Waikato Regional Council (Press Release), November 21, 2008"
Information Location 4:	http://www.waikato.govt.nz/News-and-events/Media-releases-archived/Wallace-Corp-defendants-hit-with-highest-fines-total-under-RMA-/
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Neville Keith Cross

Charge:

Toxic Materials (including burying)

Sentence:

"Fined NZL$45,000 plus costs"

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2005

Year Convicted:

2007

Year Cleared:

2010

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

New Zealand

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Waitoa

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

The judge didn't follow the law in finding the three defendants guilty.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

Wallace Corporation Limited v Waikato Regional Council HC Hamilton CRI 2008-404-404 [2010] NZHC 2002 (7 October 2010)

Information Location 1:

http://www.nzlii.org/nz/cases/NZHC/2010/2002.html

Information Source 2:

"Toxic burial case- conviction ditched, By Chris Gardner (staff), Waikato Times, October 12, 2010"

Information Location 2:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/farming/4223302/Toxic-burial-case-conviction-ditched

Information Source 3:

"Toxic chemicals buried on Waikato site, Waikato Times, September 22, 2007"

Information Location 3:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/33257

Information Source 4:

"Wallace Corp defendants hit with highest fines total under RMA, Environment Waikato Regional Council (Press Release), November 21, 2008"

Information Location 4:

http://www.waikato.govt.nz/News-and-events/Media-releases-archived/Wallace-Corp-defendants-hit-with-highest-fines-total-under-RMA-/

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: