From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SHOOTING CASE FARMER IN BID FOR RETRIAL 251351 SEP 10 By Mike Taylor, PA News Jailed farmer Tony Martin is accusing the solicitor who prepared his unsuccessful defence to a murder charge of failing to do a proper job. Martin's new legal team have filed a ground of appeal alleging that solicitor Nick Makin "failed to prepare the case properly and failed to advise the defendant properly as to the various defences available to him". The farmer is serving life for shooting dead 16-year-old burglar Fred Barras and wounding a second burglar, Brendan Fearon, 30, when the pair raided his remote farmhouse home, Bleak House, Emneth Hungate, near Emneth, Norfolk. Martin, jailed in April, is to challenge the jury's verdicts in the Court of Appeal, claiming among other things that he acted lawfully in self-defence. He is seeking the right to a retrial. At a preliminary hearing in London today, three appeal judges heard that his new solicitors, Saunders and Co, were also now arguing that he was denied a fair hearing because the defence of provocation and the question of whether his mental state influenced his actions were not properly considered by Mr Makin before the trial. Martin's counsel, Michael Wolkind QC, said Mr Makin's firm, M and S Solicitors, of Leicestershire, was unwilling to disclose certain documents relating to what instructions were given to his trial barrister, Anthony Scrivener QC. Mr Scrivener had helpfully provided some of the case papers, but Mr Makin had failed to disclose documents detailing what instructions he received from Martin or how he briefed Mr Scrivener. A complaint about Mr Makin's conduct of the defence had been sent to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS), Mr Wolkind told Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Forbes and Mrs Justice Steel. Harry Martineau, counsel for Mr Makin, said the allegations made against him to the OSS were either "plain wrong" or arose from misunderstandings or inaccuracies. And the new proposed ground of appeal questioning his conduct of the defence was in such general terms that it was impossible to know what documents were being sought. The judges adjourned the hearing until next month and directed Martin's lawyers to provide Mr Makin and Mr Scrivener with details of the new ground of appeal so that they could respond. An application for disclosure of documents will be made, if necessary, at the adjourned hearing. Martin, who is backed by a defence fund from public donations, was today refused legal aid for his appeal. Lord Justice Kennedy said that "in the light of the material before us, this application for legal aid is not one to which we can accede". Kenneth Pantling Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. (Edmund Burke�1729-97) Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
