Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Breaking and entering |
Sentence: |
"AUS$3,000" |
Years Imprisoned: |
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Year Crime: |
2005 |
Year Convicted: |
2007 |
Year Cleared: |
2008 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Australia |
County or Region of Crime: |
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City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Donna Mulhearn, Tim Dowling, Adele Goldie, and Bryan Law were co-defendants wrongly convicted in June 2007 of using wire cutters to break into and entering the Pine Gap defence facility near Alice Springs in Australia's Northwest Territory in 2005, in violation of the 1952 Defence (Special Undertaking) Act (DSU Act). The non-violent Christian peace protestors were sentenced by the Supreme Court in Alice Springs to pay fines of more than $3,000 (Canadian). They appealed and in February 2008 the Northern Territory's Court of Criminal Appeal quashed their convictions and acquitted the four defendants. The Court ruled that their prosecution was "an abuse of power [that] Australians should be really concerned about." Four Christian peace activists had been "facing prison time for what was essentially a non-violent civil disobedience political action."" |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
In February 2008 the Northern Territory's Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the four defendant's convictions and acquitted them. |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
30 |
Age When Released: |
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Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Conviction against pine gap christian peace activists quashed, Ekklesia website, February 24, 2008" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/6813 |
Information Source 2: |
"Convictions of christian pine gap protesters were wrong - chief justice, Australian Broadcasting Corp - Northern Territories, March 19, 2008" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/19/2194538.htm?site=idx-nt |
Information Source 3: |
"Pine gap anti-war protesters' conviction quashed, AAP General News Wire (Sydney, Australia), February 22, 2008" |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org