To whom it may concern,
The New South Wales Police Force vehemently opposes the defence's motion for a retrial. Below, I will outline our responses to the points raised by Mrs Rose and will raise some others to support our position.
Point 1: "Judge Selection, Partial to ruling verdict"
Mrs Rose argues that since it was revealed during the proceeding that Judge Masters authorised one of the warrants relevant to the case, it could be argued that he did not provide a fair and impartial trial.
I would remind Mrs Rose and the court that the warrant in question was provided at the time of the execution of the search warrant and before the case via discovery. If the defence was so concerned about this possible conflict, why was it not addressed before the court date? Additionally, Mrs Rose provides no evidence, only her insistence that this has affected the judgement of Judge Masters, only stating that it "could be argued" that the courts did not provide a fair and impartial trial.
Point 2: "Secretive Authoritative Evidence"
Mrs Rose argues here that new evidence was introduced to the case and then withheld from her at the time of the trial. She then asserts that this evidence must have been the single critical factor in the judge's decision to find Mr Langley guilty.
Before I go into the reasons, I would like to outline why the NSWPF requested the evidence to be withheld. If any of the raw evidence was presented to the court, it would have resulted in compromising the safety of one or more people and would have put their lives in mortal danger. The NSWPF has a responsibility to these people and the public to keep them safe and so does the DOJ.
I would like to remind Mrs Rose and the court of a fact that was stated at the time clearly by the NSWPF and Judge Masters, all evidence used in the case was provided to the court before the final time for submissions set by the judge (24 hours before the trial in this case). Second, Mrs Rose's claims that the information was not screened for authenticity or integrity is erroneous. As was stated to Mrs Rose by Judge Masters, the evidence was screened by the DOJ for authenticity and was confirmed by them to be authentic. Furthermore, Judge Masters made it clear that any exculpatory evidence would have been transmitted to the defence. Mrs Rose also states that the evidence that was withheld by the court was authoritative. Ignoring that the court has the right to decide what evidence it does and doesn't hear, this is a baseless claim that Mrs Rose has provided no backing for.
Given that the NSWPF has shown the reasons provided by the defense to be baseless, the DOJ should not entertain the possibility of a retrial.
Regards,
Inspector Arthur Johnson
Prosecutor
New South Wales Police Force
P.S
Even if this retrial is granted, there is no scenario in which the New South Wales Police Force could allow the evidence withheld from the defence to be given to them in their raw forms, as doing so would likely result in the deaths of one or more people.