Meet the Crown prosecutors on the state’s biggest criminal cases
With their wigs and black gowns, Crown Prosecutors are not meant to have a personality — they are meant to look the same and be servants to the state. Brenden Hills takes you behind the court garb to introduce you to the state’s top prosecutors.
They are the barristers responsible for locking up the states’ worst criminals.
And there has been significant changes in the ranks of the Crown Prosecutors at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in recent times.
Mark Tedeschi QC and Margaret Cunneen SC both left the office to become defence barristers after decades of service while others like Kara Shead SC have been appointed as judges.
The office is currently trying to convince the government for funding to hire a new generation of crowns.
BRENDEN HILLS takes you on a guide of the state’s top Crown Prosecutors who have appeared on the biggest court cases and will guide the ODPP into a new era.
CHRIS MAXWELL QC
There’s something about those silky vocal tones that juries love.
Maxwell is the state’s senior crown prosecutor, taking the mantle last year from Mark Tedeschi QC, who went to the private bar.
Maxwell is a murder case specialist and, while the cases he appears in are among the state’s most explosive, his approach when addressing the jury is one of “understated calm”.
A former colleague once said: “You ask any juror about his voice — it’s so smooth. He’s like Valium on two legs when he opens in front of juries — he leaves them spellbound.”
Maxwell has had two famous courtroom battles with disgraced cop Roger Rogerson.
Maxwell lost the first, in 1989, but then squared the ledger last year when Rogerson was jailed for life for murdering drug dealer Jamie Gao.
MARIA CINQUE SC
A fearsome cross examiner, “Chinkers” — as she is affectionately known — is the head of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions appeals unit.
A trailblazing female in the legal fraternity, Ms Cinque recently returned to the ODPP to work on the state’s most complex appeal cases after a stint as the second-in-charge of the NSW Crime Commission.
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It was there that Ms Cinque’s questioning skills were put to good use.
Under state law, anyone ordered to appear at the NSWCC doesn’t have a legal right to silence and must answer questions.
PAT BARRETT
With 38 years experience as a barrister, Barrett is called on to do the big cases.
Recently, that has included the trial of farmer Ian Turnbull who was jailed for 35 years for shooting dead an environmental officer on his farm in northwest NSW in 2014.
Barrett is currently acting in the high profile case of Vinzent Tarantino, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering 12-year-old Granville schoolgirl, Quanne Diec, two decades ago.
KEN McKAY
One defence lawyer said he is the legal equivalent of the old-style rugby league front rower. “He does the hard work carting the ball up without necessarily getting the accolades,” the lawyer said.
Not to be confused with the former NSW Police commissioner of the same name, this McKay has been a barrister since 2000.
In 2017, he was part of a team whose hard work saw Brothers for Life gang boss Farhad Qaumi jailed for 60 years.
CRAIG EVERSON
Will indirectly play a part in the next chapter of the wildly successful Teachers Pet podcast series. A barrister since 1996, Everson is the crown prosecutor in the case of accused murderer Chris Dawson, who was the focus of the podcast series.
Dawson, a former rugby league star and schoolteacher on Sydney’s northern beaches, is accused of murdering his wife Lynette Dawson in 1982.
NEIL ADAMS SC
Known to his colleagues as “Skinny Adams”. This was thanks to the fact that he shared his name another more rotund member of the legal fraternity and a point of difference was required. Adams is a former Commonwealth prosecutor and was made a silk last year. He is now set to act as prosecutor on one of the biggest bikie murder trials in the state’s history.
LOU LUNGO
His wardrobe consists of barristers robes, yoga pants and sandals.
When he is not locking up bad guys in court, Lungo is known for his love of healthy living and blues music.
Lungo is also the front man and harmonica player for an Inner West blues band known as The Lazy Crows.
In court, he has locked up some of the state’s most serious criminals. In recent times, this has included one feared gangster, who can’t legally be named, who shot a family member of crime boss Bassam Hamzy through a door.
PETER McGRATH SC
Will not be on the Christmas card list of a number of NRL stars.
When he is not the 2IC at the ODPP making decisions on the state’s most serious cases, McGrath is the counsel for the NRL judiciary and has been responsible for numerous league stars spending a stint on the sidelines.
Is apparently on a first name terms with a number of the Burgess brothers.
Prior to being appointed a Deputy Director McGrath was the Crown Prosecutor on the cases of Harriet Wran murderer Daniel Kelsall.
TANYA SMITH
Two years after having five-time murderer Robert Xie locked up for life, Smith was elevated to the Directors Chambers.
Insiders say her role was focused on reviewing cases that were part of the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea reforms that were aimed at clearing the logjam of cases in the courts.
Ms Smith has been with the ODPP for more than 20 years. She began her career in the Parramatta office in 1998.
HUW BAKER SC
Baker has climbed all the way to the upper echelon of the ODPP after starting work in the office as a legal clerk in 1993.
Along the way he has appeared in high profile cases including Keli Lane who was jailed for murdering her baby Tegan.
BELINDA BAKER
According to one former colleague, Baker flies under the radar but is among the most respected legal brains in the ODPP.
“She’s only been at the bar for four and a half years but she’s basically ‘dial for urgent legal advice’ when you’ve got a complex question,” the colleague said.
Her name hit the headlines in 2017 when she appeared in the case relating to the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in the Blue Mountains.
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