DPP Kerri Judd complains about second Victorian judge

Victoria’s top prosecutor has lodged a complaint against a second judge, a revelation that will further strain her office’s already tense relationship with the judiciary.

Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC. Picture: AAP

The legal stoush between Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd and the state’s judiciary has escalated with revelations the top prosecutor has launched an official complaint against a second judge.

The Australian has confirmed Ms Judd took action against County Court Justice Geoff Chettle in the Victorian Judicial Commission over a pre-trial ruling the judge made in a rape case.

Ms Judd issued the complaint in June, about four months after Justice Chettle’s ruling, but it is understood the judge was not made aware of the action until late last year.

Justice Chettle has vigorously defended himself in the judicial commission and the watchdog is now considering its decision.

Justice Chettle declined to comment when contacted on Tuesday by The Australian.

The emergence of the complaint against the respected and experienced County Court judge follows the dramatic resignation two weeks ago of Supreme Court judge Lex Lasry after he learned Ms Judd KC had lodged a complaint against him with the judicial watchdog.

Ms Judd’s actions have raised concerns within judicial and legal circles, with some figures questioning whether it was appropriate for her to call in the watchdog on judges.

Former chief Crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert KC, who regularly acted as the state’s director of public prosecutions over a decade, has slammed Ms Judd’s actions.

“The (judicial commission) was never designed to afford an avenue of complaint to the director, and the director’s use of the Act to complain about the conduct of a serving judge is entirely inappropriate,” Mr Silbert said.

Mr Silbert explained that disputes between the DPP and judges were usually resolved with the director raising a complaint directly with the judges’ head of jurisdiction.

Ms Judd took action against Justice Chettle after he ordered a permanent stay of rape charges against two men. That ruling was later overturned by the Victorian Court of Appeal.

The Office of Public Prosecutions declined to comment when asked by The Australian about the second complaint.

The judicial commission also declined to comment when asked about the second complaint.

The County Court also declined to comment.

The circumstances surrounding Ms Judd’s complaint against Justice Chettle are similar to those that triggered her complaint against Justice Lasry.

Justice Lasry sensationally quit in open court two weeks ago after learning on February 5 that Ms Judd had lodged a complaint against him with the judicial commission 10 months earlier.

Justice Lasry had ordered a permanent stay of charges against a trucking company boss relating to the Eastern Freeway tragedy that claimed the lives of four police officers.

The veteran judge was highly critical of prosecutors after they abruptly abandoned manslaughter charges.

The Court of Appeal later overturned Justice Lasry’s decision and when he resigned in open court on February 14 he said he accepted the court’s ruling.

Justice Lasry revealed Ms Judd had lodged the complaint in which she claimed comments he made in staying the criminal trial had the “tendency to ­diminish public confidence in the administration of justice in ­Victoria”.

Justice Lasry, who is due to retire from the Supreme Court on March 1, expressed particular concern that he was not told earlier about the complaint.

“I now discover that the DPP through solicitor Abbey Hogan has made a formal complaint about me, and the way in which that matter was conducted, to the judicial commission,” Justice Lasry told the court.

Justice Lasry said that since issuing the stay of criminal charges against the trucking company boss he had continued to “undertake the criminal work of the court, all of which involved the director, as unbeknownst to me she had become a complainant against me”.

“Whilst it is impossible to know what the judicial commission’s findings might be, now that I know of the director’s allegation, it is clear it is not appropriate for me to continue to preside over any matters involving her as a party,” he told the court.

Justice Lasry told the court last week “I utterly reject” the allegation from the DPP in the complaint to the judicial commission.

In the fallout after the DPP’s complaint against Justice Lasry emerged, senior legal figures have issued strong public comments supporting him.

Former Victorian Supreme Court judge and IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich KC said Justice Lasry had made an “outstanding contribution” to the court and conducted criminal trials with “great distinction”.

“Justice Lasry has made an outstanding contribution to the administration of criminal justice over the better part of two ­decades,” Mr Redlich said.

“He has conducted important and challenging criminal trials with great distinction and is held in the highest esteem by his judicial colleagues and the Victorian Bar.”