Twenty-one separate publications, six corporate groups and 19 individual journalists charged with breaching a suppression order during the George Pell trial in 2018 will face a single, but complex, trial in November. But numerous publications referred to the verdict, without naming Pell, before the suppression order was lifted. A request by the defence for any internal documents sent by Judd was requested on the grounds it may reveal why the second prosecution of Pell was discontinued. Victorian prosecutors originally asked the court to find 100 respondents guilty of contempt on the basis that publishing when there was a suppression order had the effect of “scandalising the court”. The second trial Pell was facing was dropped on 26 February 2019, owing to a lack of admissible evidence, allowing the suppression order to be lifted.

Source: The Guardian September 02, 2020 09:56 UTC