Man found guilty twice of ‘gay panic’ murder wins right to appeal fresh conviction
A MAN twice found guilty of murder over a comment about gay sex has won the right to appeal his conviction amid concern a judge mistakenly explained contentious “provocation” laws.
A MAN twice found guilty of murder over a comment about gay sex has won the right to appeal his conviction amid concern a judge mistakenly explained contentious “provocation” laws.
Michael Joseph Lindsay, 32, has been found guilty twice over the death of Andrew Negre, 37, at the Cove Tavern, in Adelaide’s south in April 2011.
His lawyers had argued that Mr Negre’s unwanted sexual advances had caused their client to lose control.
Lindsay, of Hallett Cove, was jailed for a minimum of 23 years in October 2013 after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of bashing and stabbing Mr Negre, who lived nearby.
In May last year, the High Court quashed his original conviction but he was found guilty after a retrial in March, in a judgment that put the controversial law back in the spotlight.
Parliament is considering whether it will outlaw the so-called “gay panic” defence — in which a nonviolent homosexual advance could be pursued to establish provocation — after the nation’s highest court ruled it could still be used in South Australia and ordered Lindsay face a retrial.
On Friday, Justice David Lovell, sitting in the Court of Criminal Appeal, granted Lindsay permission to challenge a series of concerns from the second trial.
Court documents show grounds for appeal include concerns about Justice Anne Bampton’s direction of the jury over veracity of witnesses and of “provocation laws”.
This included whether the prosecution had “excluded the possibility that Mr Lindsay had killed Mr Neagre as a consequence of a sudden and temporary loss of self-control brought about by Mr Neagre’s conduct”.
His co-accused, Luke James Hutchings, was found guilty of assisting an offender and was jailed for seven years with a non-parole period of four years and eight months.
During the pair’s trial, prosecutors had alleged Mr Neagre made a comment to Lindsay that had “some sort of sexual connotation ... something like I will pay you for sex”.
They alleged Lindsay responded by repeatedly punching and stabbing Mr Negre until Hutchings took the knife and cut the victim’s throat.
The court heard Hutchings used a wheelie bin to take Mr Negre’s body to a reserve, where it was dumped.
Under state law, gay panic can be used as a partial defence, which can reduce a charge of murder to manslaughter.
In comparison, self-defence can provide a complete defence to a charge of murder, entitling the accused to a full acquittal without penalty.