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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Consorting with gang members |
Sentence: |
1 year with 9 month min. |
Years Imprisoned: |
0.92 |
Year Crime: |
2012 |
Year Convicted: |
2015 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Australia |
County or Region of Crime: |
New South Wales |
City of Crime: |
Inverell |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Charlie Maxwell Forster was wrongly convicted in April 2015 of habitually consorting with convicted offenders in April and May 2012 in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. Charlie Forster is an intellectually disabled man who can't read or write. Forster's prosecution was based on him having conversations on three separate occasions in April 2012 on Inverell's main street with men he knew who had criminal convictions, and on a fourth occasion -- in May 2012 -- when he was out "havin' a drink" and had a conversation with the same men. There was no allegation that the 21-year-old Forster had any conversation about committing a crime with the men or that he had any intention to do so, and he did not have a criminal conviction. In 2012 Forster pled guilty and was sentenced to a year in prison with a minimum non-parole period of nine months. Forster was the first person convicted of New South Wales' anti-consorting law that had been enacted in early 2012 as a response to a wave of gun violence involving bikies and organised crime groups. After he was imprisoned a petition was filed on Forster's behalf to withdraw his guilty plea on the basis it had not been knowingly given. The petition was granted after Forster had already been released following 11 months of imprisonment. Forster then pled not guilty and along with two members of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang, Sleiman Tajjour and Justin Hawthorne, filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the anti-consorting laws on the grounds they infringed on a person's implied right to freedom of association and freedom of political communication In October 2014, the New South Wales High Court found the laws were constitutional. Forster then had a bench trial in the Inverell Local Court. His defense was that there was a difference between the "chance encounters" that Forster had with the men, and a deliberate meeting contemplated by the anti-consorting law. In April 2015 Magistrate Michael O'Brien found Forster guilty and sentenced him to 12 months' jail with a non-parole period of nine months. Forster appealed. On April 21, 2017 the New South Wales Supreme Court set-aside Charlie Forster's conviction on the basis the prosecution's evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. In the appeals court's ruling, Justice Lucy McCallum stated the "essence of consorting is the intentional seeking of something in the nature of companionship, not mere conversation." She said that the evidence was that Forster's conversations were the result of chance enounters with acquaintances, and not illegal under the law. Justice McCallum also said a trial court should evaluate whether a defendant's conduct that was proved, amounted to 'habitual' consorting" before finding a person guilty. Based on the lack of evidence, Forster's case was not remanded for a retrial." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On April 21, 2017 the New South Wales Supreme Court set-aside Charlie Forster's conviction on the basis the prosecution's evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. In the appeals court's ruling, Justice Lucy McCallum stated the "essence of consorting is the intentional seeking of something in the nature of companionship, not mere conversation." She said that the evidence was that Forster's conversations were the result of chance enounters with acquaintances, and not illegal under the law. Justice McCallum also said a trial court should evaluate whether a defendant's conduct that was proved, amounted to 'habitual' consorting" before finding a person guilty." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
21 |
Age When Released: |
22 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Intellectually disabled man has consorting conviction set aside, By Louise Hall, Illawarra Mercury, April 21, 2017" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4613153/intellectually-disabled-man-has-consorting-conviction-set-aside/?cs=7 |
Information Source 2: |
"Disabled NSW man's conviction set aside, By Rebekah Ison (AAP), Yahoo! News, April 21, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/35115398/disabled-mans-nsw-conviction-set-aside/#page1 |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org