George Pell’s lawyers look set to fight for his freedom
Sources close to George Pell say his team has been encouraged to take his fight to the High Court after studying the 325-page Court of Appeal judgment.
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Cardinal George Pell now looks certain to take his fight for freedom to the High Court as his legal team continues to analyse the reasons for his appeal loss this week.
Sources close to Pell say his team has been encouraged after studying the 325-page Court of Appeal judgment, more than 200 pages of which spelled out the argument for his acquittal.
Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell dismissed the appeal, while Justice Mark Weinberg ruled Pell should have been acquitted.
“Weinberg has done an impeccable job. In lots of ways he has done the hard work for the High Court if that’s where this case ends up,” one source close to Pell said.
It is understood Pell’s team is confident of getting the case before the High Court, but legal experts say even if Pell can convince the court to hear the case, success in the High Court is rare. There are just four more court dates for the hearing of special leave applications this year, so unless the case is expedited Pell would be lucky to have any substantial appeal heard before next year.
University of Melbourne law professor Jeremy Gans said the court could expedite the hearing because of Pell's health and fairly short sentence.
It could also decide the special leave application “on the papers”, meaning no court date is required.
Pell’s team now has 27 days to lodge an application with the High Court, but it is understood it will announce an appeal bid sooner than that.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli on Thursday said he believed Pell was innocent.
He wondered if the sole living victim had confused Pell with another cleric.
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The same idea was put to the jury who convicted Pell. “I believe in what he said to me, on many occasions, that he’s innocent, and I continue to be really quite shocked with all of how things have developed,” the Archbishop told 3AW.
But he also said he believed the victim. “I genuinely think that I can take on my knowledge of the man in terms of George Pell and accept what he has said to me, I can also take on what I have heard of (the victim) and what he said in terms of abuse.”