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Subject: Man once sentenced to hang found guilty of gunning down girlfriend
Volkodav    9/29/2009 4:12:08 AM
Lauren Wilson | September 29, 2009 Article from: The Australian A VICTORIAN man who was sentenced to hang four decades ago, has been found guilty today of the murder of his girlfriend. It took a Victorian Supreme Court jury about one hour to find 61-year-old Leigh Robinson guilty of the shotgun murder of his partner, 33 year-old mother of two Tracey Greenbury. Robinson, a driver from Pearcedale on the Mornington Peninsula, had pleaded not guilty to the murder. He told the court he had accidentally discharged a sawn-off shotgun when he went to help Ms Greenbury, as she stumbled through the doorway of a neighbour's home in April last year. But Crown prosecutor Peter Rose SC, dismissed as “fanciful” his explanation for why he had pursued Ms Greenbury down the street to a neighbour's house and shot her in the head at close range. Mr Rose called the killing a “cold blooded execution.” Robinson was previously sentenced to death by hanging for the 1968 murder of his former girlfriend Valerie Dunn. The sentence was later commuted at the request of the Victorian Governor. He will be sentenced for the murder of Ms Greenbury at a date to be fixed. - with AAP Gut instinct, I am opposed to the death penalty, however cases like this lead to me questioning whether there is a place for it. On the other hand WA has shocking record of knowingly convicting innocent people for the sake of convenience so which way should we go on the question of reintroducing the death penalty?
 
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bigfella       9/29/2009 4:38:51 AM
The issue here is not that he was not executed, but that the subsequent sentence permitted him to be released.
 
As you pointed out, we know that innocent men  have been convicted of crimes that might warrant the death penalty. As it is notoriously hard to exhonerate a dead man, so we will never know how many who did hang should not have. The Innocence Project alone has cleared over 50 people on death row in the US, and that is based on investgations of only a small percentage of cases. Even if the sample of cases chosen is unrepresentitive - those more likely to be innocent - the mind boggles as to how many innocent people may have been executed. 
 
If Mr Robinson was guilty enough to hang he was guilty enough to keep behind bars.
 
(side note: I do wonder about people who take up with partners convicted of abusing or even killing a previous partner. Do they expect a different result the next time? I'll charitably assume the unfortunate lady here didn't know.) 
 
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Volkodav       9/29/2009 5:00:57 AM
In relation to a more recent exposure of a wrongful murder conviction in WA, the WA Police Association and senior Police took the line that cases that have already secured a conviction should not be re-opened as it damages the public's perception of the justice system.
 
Ironically this latest case was solved by other Police Officers who looked outside the square and discovered the true culprit instead of turning a blind eye as some of their fellows would have preferred.
 
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Aussiegunneragain       9/29/2009 8:32:21 AM

In relation to a more recent exposure of a wrongful murder conviction in WA, the WA Police Association and senior Police took the line that cases that have already secured a conviction should not be re-opened as it damages the public's perception of the justice system.
 
Ironically this latest case was solved by other Police Officers who looked outside the square and discovered the true culprit instead of turning a blind eye as some of their fellows would have preferred.

Sounds about right. Having spent a little time in WA now I laugh at people who take the mickey out of Queensland as being a socially backwards place. The sand gropers are a frickin' breed of their own and it is only because WA is so far away that it doesn't get the attention as such.
Other than that I agree with BF. Its too easy to execute an innocent person so IMV life in prison should be the most serious punishment our society dishes out.

 
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bigfella       10/1/2009 7:09:17 AM

In relation to a more recent exposure of a wrongful murder conviction in WA, the WA Police Association and senior Police took the line that cases that have already secured a conviction should not be re-opened as it damages the public's perception of the justice system.

 

Ironically this latest case was solved by other Police Officers who looked outside the square and discovered the true culprit instead of turning a blind eye as some of their fellows would have preferred.


 
Gee, what a shock. The WA police don't want their past failures exposed. I supposed I might feel that way if one of my most celebrated detectives had been exposed for setting up the Mickelberg Bothers & sending them to jail. What damages the public's perception of the justice system is verballing innocent men & letting murdering ex-coppers avoid even being charged.
 
 
Ass covering clowns.

 
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