The state of Victoria requested a judge-alone trial out of concerns regarding a "tainted" jury
The lawyers of barrister-turned-police informant Nicola Gobbo have called for her civil suit against the state of Victoria to be heard by a jury, reported The Australian.
Gobbo’s lawyers asserted that citizens were ideally placed to assess the “standards and duties” between “state and citizen”. However, the state’s lawyers indicated to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that they had made an application for a judge-alone trial.
Gobbo, who became known as Lawyer X, filed the suit against the state of Victoria to seek compensation for alleged injury, loss, and damage due to the state’s supposed negligence when it used her as a police informant.
Given the publicity around the Lawyer X scandal, “any jury coming is going to be tainted from the outset”, barrister for the state Bernard Quinn KC said to the court in a statement published by The Australian. He also cited the “factual and legal complexity” of the case.
Supreme Court Judge Andrew Keogh issued an order for Gobbo’s barrister Tim Tobin SC to submit a recusal application requesting that no Victorian Supreme Court judge preside over the case.
Tobin had raised the issue that a judge-alone trial would be disadvantageous given Gobbo’s familial ties to the court – her sister is presently a Supreme Court judge, and her uncle was one previously. Tobin also argued that publicity would not result in prejudice to either party given that the media did not describe the matter in significant detail.
Keogh did not make a decision on whether the trial, which is set to commence on 30 September, should be judge alone.
Last month, the introduction of the State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Bill to parliament was met with backlash from the Victorian Bar.
