Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Anthony John Wheaton

 

Charge:

Vehicle Offenses

Sentence:

Fine

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2014

Year Convicted:

2016

Year Cleared:

2017

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Australia

County or Region of Crime:

Tasmania

City of Crime:

Forth

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Anthony John Wheaton was wrongly convicted on May 16, 2016 of speeding in Forth, Tasmania on December 29, 2014. The prosecution's case was based on Constable Daniel Adams' testimony that he used a radar speed analyser to measure that Anthony Wheaton was traveling between 88 kph and 81 kph in a 70 kph speed zone. There were no other cars on the road at the time Constable Adams measured Wheaton's vehicle. After Wheaton was found guilty in the Magistrate Court following a bench trial he was fined. Wheaton appealed. On July 7, 2017 the Supreme Court of Tasmania quashed Wheaton's conviction on the basis "there was no evidence that either Constable Adams or Constable McKenna [who did not testify] had received any training in the use of the device, either by undertaking a course of instruction at the police academy, or elsewhere, or from other officers, or by reading an instruction manual for the device. ... Consequently, there was no evidence to enable the magistrate to determine whether the manner of operation of the device on this occasion, although the evidence of its operation was sparse, accorded with how it would be operated by a person qualified by training and experience to do so. ... Although the applicant did not squarely challenge the training and experience of Constable Adams in operation of the device, or raise the issue with the magistrate, he was unrepresented. It was for the prosecution to adduce evidence capable of satisfying the magistrate that the operator, whether it was Constable Adams or Constable McKenna, was qualified by training and experience to operate the radar speed analyser, and that it was operated in accordance that training and experience. For the reasons I have given I do not see that there was evidence capable of satisfying the magistrate of those matters in this case. Error is established. The motion, as it applies to this charge, should be allowed. ... The orders of conviction and sentence on that complaint are quashed. Given my conclusion that it was not open to the magistrate to find that complaint proved, the appropriate order is that the complaint is dismissed." (Wheaton v Wilson [2017] TASSC 40 (7 July 2017))"

Conviction Caused By:

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:

Wheaton v Wilson [2017] TASSC 40 (7 July 2017) (Quashing conviction)

Information Location 1:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/tas/TASSC/2017/40.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=Anthony%20John%20Wheaton

Information Source 2:

"Driver beats speeding rap on appeal, By Patrick Billings (Police reporter), Mercury, July 11, 2017"

Information Location 2:

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/scales-of-justice/driver-beats-speeding-rap-on-appeal/news-story/091a0a54e994eb533bf03fe444a9e1e6

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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