Luke ‘Fatboy’ Sparos beats murder charge after sacking lawyer
FACING a murder charge that carries a life sentence, Luke ‘Fatboy’ Sparos did the unbelievable — he sacked his lawyer and represented himself during his 14 week trial — and won.
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WHO needs a team of lawyers to defend them on a murder charge? Not Luke “Fatboy” Sparos.
Facing life in jail based on thousands of pages of evidence and more than 100 tapped phone calls that prosecutors claimed pointed to him hiring a contract killer, Sparos decided he had a better chance of winning his case than a high-powered legal team.
So, with no formal legal training, he opted to represent himself during his 14-week jury trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
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Sparos’s approach and delivery were described by one source as “unorthodox to say the least”.
At one point, as Sparos was making an address, Justice Ian Harrison asked him: “Can you slow down? We have to take down what you say.”
Sparos replied that he couldn’t: “I’m in the zone, your Honour.”
Another time, Sparos caught out the hitman on a point that contradicted his police statement. He paused for effect, then said, “wah, wah, wah, waaaah”, imitating the sound made when a contestant lands on the bankrupt panel on the TV game show Wheel Of Fortune.
The case ended on Thursday when the jury found Sparos not guilty. So convincing was his defence, the jury needed only 27 minutes to return a verdict.
Sparos was accused of taking out a contract for the murder of Gemahl Maika, a key witness against him in an earlier case known as The Golden Gun Syndicate about the importation of more than 300kg of cocaine in 2005-2006.
Maika was shot five times in 2011 by a lone hitman with a .45 calibre pistol. Sparos was charged with arranging the hit from Long Bay Jail.
When the trial began on May 21, Sparos was represented by Craig Smith SC, barrister David Carroll, solicitor Kiki Kyriacou and legal clerk Monica Bortolotti.
Apart from Mr Kyriacou and Ms Bortolotti, they were the second group of lawyers to represent him, after an earlier hearing ended in a hung jury.
But a week into the trial Sparos decided he would be better representing himself, given his knowledge of the case from the first trial.
I’m in the zone, your Honour
According to one source, Sparos cross-examined more than 20 witness, including the hitman, whose identity was suppressed after he was jailed and became a rollover witness.
One source said: “Sparos knew his case back to front. He sat in jail and read his whole brief.”
The other hurdle was hundreds of phone calls that prosecutors said showed Sparos setting up the killing.
“He had an answer for every single one of them,” another source said.
“The advantage he had was that the people he was cross-examining were criminals from the same world as him. He was able to zero in on the nuances of the language and use it to his advantage.
“A lawyer from the other side of the tracks would never be able to do that.
“He mixed a lot of complicated legal jargon that he picked up during the trial with street language and used the word ‘youse’ a lot — it must have resonated with the jury.”
At one point, Sparos brought in a scribe to help him, but he was kicked off the case when it was discovered he had a criminal record.
Sparos complained: “Your Honour, everyone I know has a criminal record.”
Near the end of the trial, when Sparos entered the witness box, he brought Mr Carroll back to lead him through his evidence.
Mr Carroll then delivered a large part of the closing before Sparos took over again.
After pleading guilty to his part in the Golden Gun Syndicate in 2011, Sparos was jailed for up to 15 years. Twelve others were also convicted.