‘Intolerable’: Victor Codea murder trial lawyers crammed into jury box because the courtroom is too small
Some of SA’s most highly paid barristers have complained after being forced into an unfamiliar position – sitting in the jury box for a high-profile murder trial.
Police & Courts
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Lawyers representing four alleged murderers have had to conduct their case from the jury box – a legal first for which they blame “the inadequacy” of the state’s trial facilities.
On Friday, the beleaguered Supreme Court trial of Victor Codea’s four alleged murderers resumed in unprecedented fashion.
The courtroom assigned to the case by the Courts Administration Authority was too small to accommodate the quartet’s 10-strong legal team, who crowded the bar table and filled the public gallery.
Senior barrister Grant Algie KC said it was “intolerable” and “inappropriate” to try to defend “four young men charged with the most serious of offences” without adequate facilities.
He asked the trial be adjourned – but Justice Adam Kimber said there were alternatives.
“Why could counsel not sit in the jury box during this judge-alone trial?” he asked.
“It occurs to me there’s also the bench (where judicial staff sit), if anyone wants to use that.”
Counsel agreed to move, albeit grudgingly.
Lawyer Nick Vadasz said using the jury box – with its lecture-style flip-out desks – “takes us back to law school”.
Bill Boucaut KC said the “little flaps that come out of the seats” were unsuitable for counsel acting in a trial.
He said the Courts Administration Authority should have assigned the sizeable trial a larger courtroom, as it had last week.
The situation “highlights the inadequacy of court facilities in this state”, Mr Boucaut said.
“I’m not being churlish, but the space is just not there,” he added.
Thomas Nichols, 31, Jeremy Dale Sandell, 25, Kain Mazomenos, 26, and Thomas Pinnington, 25, have each pleaded not guilty to murder.
Prosecutors allege the August 2020 ambush of Mr Codea was a response to bad online reviews of drugs sold by Sandell, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
An eyewitnesses has told the trial that the attack, in the Adelaide High School car park, felt like “it went for 10 seconds” and involved blows that “were not fairy taps”.
The trial was hit with a “wrecking ball” when Mr Nichols’ original counsel withdrew from the case, saying they could no longer represent him.
By resuming on Friday, with new counsel for Mr Nichols, it avoided a potential clash with another high-profile trial – that of Jason De Ieso’s alleged killers.
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