Wark v WA [No 2]

[2023] WASCA 67

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Courts and Judicial System
2. › Judges
3. › Disqualification
4. › Apprehended bias
5. › Judge who made findings on unreasonable verdict ground in original appeal hearing relevantly identical ground on appeal from retrial
6. › Whether reasonable apprehension of bias
7. › Presumed knowledge of hypothetical fair-minded lay observer
8. › Significant differences between trial records
1. Criminal Law
2. › Appeal
3. › Unreasonable verdict
4. › Function of intermediate court of appeal
5. › Independent assessment of sufficiency and quality of evidence
6. › Whether verdict unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence

Quick Take

A judge who has made detailed findings on an unreasonable verdict ground in an earlier appeal is not necessarily disqualified from hearing a relevantly identical ground on appeal from a retrial, particularly where the trial records are materially different.