High profile lawyer Michael Bosscher claims ‘miscarriage of justice’ over 10yr fraud sentence

Disgraced lawyer Michael Bosscher has claimed there were several miscarriages of justice throughout his fraud trial.

Disgraced Lawyer Michael Bosscher leaves the Supreme Court in Brisbane in November, 2023. Picture: Glenn Campbell/NCANewsWire

Disgraced lawyer Michael Bosscher has claimed there were several miscarriages of justice throughout his fraud trial, one of which involved a tearful juror alerting the judge to “personal attacks, gossip and aspersions” in the jury room.

Bosscher was found guilty last November of aggravated fraud in excess of $30,000 and eight counts of falsifying documents.

The aggravated fraud had involved 57 frauds spanning over four-and-a-half years between November 2011 and September 2016.

A Brisbane District Court jury was told Bosscher had taken dozens of cash payments from clients at his law firm Bosscher Lawyers Pty Ltd.

Bosscher, 55, was sentenced to 10 years jail in May this year.

Michael Bosscher is appealing his sentence.

But he is now vying to appeal the verdict, claiming there were a number of miscarriages of justice over the course of the trial.

Barrister Saul Holt outlined seven grounds for appeal to the Court of Appeal on Thursday morning.

These included several concerns with the trial judge’s summing up, with Bosscher’s fitness to represent himself at trial, and an instance where a juror went to the judge in tears claiming there had been “personal attacks, gossip and aspersions” among jurors.

Mr Holt said the juror’s descriptions provided a “reasonable apprehension” of a lack of impartiality.

He argued that the trial judge’s response – to direct the jury not to bring outside evidence into the jury room – was insufficient to address this concern.

But trial prosecutor Greg Cummings said there was “nothing wrong” with jurors gossiping if it was in the context of the evidence or witnesses.

Mr Holt further labelled the trial judge’s directions to the jury in her summing up as “profoundly internally inconsistent” and potentially confusing to the jury.

Mr Cummings submitted it was not possible for the jury to have been confused by the judge’s summing up, when combined with the physical documentation they were additionally provided with.

“It’s easy to come back now without the atmosphere of the trial … and say oh well the jury may have been confused,” he said.

Mr Holt also voiced concerns over the handling of Bosscher’s request to be legally represented.

Bosscher initially chose to represent himself at trial, but requested representation part way through over concerns with his mental state, the court heard.

Mr Holt said Bosscher had suffered an “acute relapse of a longstanding depressive disorder” which involved concentration issues and insomnia.

Lawyer Michael Bosscher is claiming a miscarriage of justice. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

The court heard the trial had been delayed an “extraordinary” 12 days, part way through the evidence of major witness Timothy Meehan, after Bosscher raised his intention to seek legal representation.

Bosscher had continued to represent himself after his concerns were considered, however, and made a whopping nine hours of submissions to the jury during his closing address, the court was told.

Mr Cummings submitted that Bosscher, an experienced criminal lawyer, had been effective in representing himself regardless of his mental health struggles.

But Justice David Boddice said Mr Cummings couldn’t pinpoint how much more effective Bosscher could have been without that diminished capacity.

“It’s a question of whether he was disadvantaged,” Justice Boddice said.

Mr Cummings had requested to play three recordings of Bosscher around the time of the trial, so that the appeal justices could consider his fitness to represent himself.

But Justice Peter Flanagan questioned embarking on a “quasi forensic psychiatric assessment” to determine if Bosscher had been “malingering” his mental health difficulties, when a psychiatric expert at the time had concluded Bosscher’s functioning had genuinely been reduced.

Justice Boddice also questioned whether the 12-day delay had been been properly addressed by the trial judge in her summing up.

“Nobody actually thought about the jury, that’s what I’m concerned about,” he stated.

Justice Boddice raised additional concerns that conflicting evidence given by Mr Meehan at Bosscher’s committal hearing wasn’t mentioned by the trial judge in her summing up.

“The fact that he (Mr Meehan) admitted on oath to stealing is relevant and her honour positively refused to include it,” he said.

“How is it a fair portrayal of the case the jury is to consider?”

Mr Cummings argued there was no need for her honour to underscore this evidence after it was comprehensively covered in Bosscher’s “very long” address.

Mr Meehan, Bosscher’s former colleague, had been sentenced to five-and-a-half years jail in 2017 for the same charges of aggravated fraud and eight counts of fraudulently falsifying records.

Following Mr Holt and Mr Cummings’s submissions, Bosscher’s appeal was adjourned for further documents to be provided.

Bosscher, who made no appearance in court, currently remains incarcerated at Wolston Correctional Centre.

Originally published as High profile lawyer Michael Bosscher claims ‘miscarriage of justice’ over 10yr fraud sentence