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Galway academic says O’ Reilly may appeal E-mail
Written by Deirdre O'Shaughnessy   
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Respected NUIG law lecturer Tom O’ Malley has said convicted murderer Joe O’ Reilly may have grounds to appeal his life sentence due to the huge amount of media coverage of his case.

The well-known legal scholar said that although this issue had failed as a grounds for appeal in the Catherine Nevin murder case a number of years ago, it may well be used by Joe O’ Reilly in attempting to have his conviction overturned.

The Court of Criminal Appeal refused Mrs Nevin’s application as the media had been ordered to ‘tone down’ the coverage during her case. However, no such order was made by Mr Justice Barry White during O’ Reilly’s case.

Murder cases in which a person is accused of murdering his/her spouse receive far more publicity than other murder cases.

Mr O’ Malley, who lectures in Criminal Law at NUI, Galway, also commented on the “flimsy” evidence used to convict Mr O’ Reilly. He said that none of the evidence, mainly in the form of mobile phone records and emails, “went even remotely close to saying he killed her”. 

He added that possibly the most interesting feature of the case was the use of such detailed mobile phone technology. The knowledge that mobile phone users can be tracked with such precision means that this type of evidence will be a helpful resource for investigators, he felt.
 


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