Last week, Cardinal Pell’s appeal was heard at the Supreme Court of Victoria’s Court of Appeal, presided by Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and Justices Chris Maxwell and Mark Weinberg.
Pell’s legal team appealed the trial-by-jury conviction in December 2018 on three grounds. First, that the jury “on the whole of the evidence, including unchallenged exculpatory evidence from more than 20 Crown witnesses”, could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt to form a conviction. Second, that trial judge Justice Peter Kidd “erred” by preventing the defence from showing an animated recreation of the cathedral space, where the offence was said to occur, during the closing address. Third, because Cardinal Pell was not arraigned in the presence of the jury.
