TARRANT’S APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 112, 4 February 1933, Page 11

TARRANT’S APPEAL

Decision to be Given on Monday Next PICTON MURDER CASE i Final submissions were made to the, Court of Appeal yesterday on behalf of Edward Tarrant, who is appealing from his conviction at Blenheim in November last of murdering James Flood at Picton on November 3, 1931. The Court, which consists of the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), Mr. Justice MacGregor, and Mr. Justice Ostler, will give its decision on Monday morning.

At the hearing of the appeal, which lasted more than two days, the Crown was represented by the Solicitor-Gen-eral, Mr. A. Fair, K.C., and the Crown Prosecutor at Wellington, Mr. P. S. K. Macassey, The prisoner, who is under sentence of death, was represented by Mr. Evan Parry, of Wellington, and Mr. A. E. L. Scantlebury, of Blenheim. When the hearing was resumed yesterday morning, Mr. Fair made his final submissions to the Court, discussing particularly questions arising from Mr. Justice Blair’s directions to the jury at Blenheim. He also devoted some time to the question of the competence of the Court of Appeal to express an opinion of the evidence if the matter were to be carried further and the attention of the Executive Council directed to It.

Mr. Parry, too, in his brief final address, dealt with what were claimed to be questions of law arising out of Mr. Justice Blair’s directions to the jury. He said that there was such a possibility of error on the part of the jury, that if the Court of Appeal could give a new trial on any legal ground at all it should do so. The Chief Justice indicated that the Court would give a written .decision on Monday.