Palm Island riot defendant trial moved over bias concerns
A decision by a court in Townsville to move the trial of defendant involved in the Palm Island riots to Brisbane has the potential to change the way jury trials are handled in Australia. In 2004 riots occurred Palm island, off the Queensland coast, after the death of an aboriginal man Mulrunji Doomadgee in police custody. The trial of the defendant, Lex Wotton will now be heard in Brisbane, following a move by his lawyer, Stewart Levitt to survey the residents of Townsville. The results showed that a fair trial would be almost impossible to achieve in that town, due to a high level of racisms against Palm Islanders and indigenous people in general. This report by the Wire features comments from Lex Wotton’s lawyer Stewart Levitt and University of Technology, Sydney Associate Professor of Law, Patrick Keysar.