Timeline set for George Pell’s High Court appeal against child sex convictions
Lawyers for George Pell have been given until January 8 to file their written submissions in what will be his final shot at overturning his child sex abuse convictions in a High Court appeal.
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George Pell’s legal team looks set to work through Christmas with a timetable now in place for his High Court Appeal.
Pell’s lawyers have been given until January 8 to file their written submissions in what will be his final shot at overturning his convictions.
Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd QC, will have just under a month to file her response, with Pell then given another three weeks to respond to those submissions.
The indicative timeline has been published on the High Court website.
The dates mean the case is on track for a potential March hearing, the earliest date the case can come before the court.
By then Pell would have served more than 12 months of his three year and eight month minimum.
He has served the entirety of his sentence in maximum security, alongside some of the state’s most dangerous prisoners.
The High Court has flagged it will hear his appeal against his five sexual abuse convictions, after taking the rare step of referring his application for special leave to a full bench of the court.
Pell is serving a maximum six year jail term for the abuse of two choirboys while he was the Catholic archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.
But he has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and has taken his case to the High Court after unsuccessfully appealing to the Victorian Court of Appeal.
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His case will go before either five or seven justices of the High Court, and will proceed as though special leave had been granted.
If he is successful Pell has asked the court to enter acquittals on all charges.
If he loses the case will be dismissed.
There is only an outside chance the case could be sent back for trial, but that is not a current possibility based on the material before the court.