John Marsden (lawyer)
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John Marsden (January 3, 1942[1] - May 17, 2006), was a prominent Sydney-based Australian solicitor and former President of the Law Society of New South Wales. He was known for his high-profile clients, his gay rights activism[2][3], and his victory in a defamation action against the Seven Network.
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[edit] Early life and career
Marsden attended St Johns Preparatory College in Campbelltown and St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill before entering a seminary to study for the priesthood. After deciding the priesthood was not for him, he completed a law degree at Sydney University, graduating in 1966.
After completing his Bachelor of Laws, Marsden established a law firm in Campbelltown in southwest Sydney. This firm grew from Marsden as a sole practitioner to among the largest law firms in Sydney. Marsden was a prominent resident of Campbelltown throughout his life and was often quoted as saying "There are two great cities in the world - Rome and Campbelltown."
Marsden held a number of prominent positions throughout his career including President of the New South Wales Law Society, President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties and member of the New South Wales Police Board.
[edit] Clients
[edit] Ivan Milat
Marsden's most famous Australian client was serial killer Ivan Milat. Marsden had a long association with the Milat family and had successfully represented Ivan Milat on charges of rape in the 1970s, but shortly after being arrested in 1994 for the backpacker murders Milat sacked him.
In 2005, after falling ill with cancer, Marsden indicated his belief that Milat had had an accomplice, and expressed some regrets about his success in helping Milat avoid conviction on the earlier rape charges.[4] He recounted an incident that had happened during trial on those charges: after the first day in court, during which Milat appeared likely to be convicted, Marsden - then a closeted homosexual - went to a gay bar and noticed the two alleged victims there. The next day in court he outed them as lesbians and relied on the jury's prejudices to attack their credibility and win acquittal for Milat.[5]
[edit] Saddam Hussein
In 2004, Marsden accepted British/Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano's invitation to join Saddam Hussein's defence team.[6][7] Marsden was receiving treatment for stomach cancer at the time, and it is unclear how active his involvement in the case was; the trial was still ongoing at the time of Marsden's death.
[edit] Seven Network defamation incident
In 1994 New South Wales MP Deirdre Grusovin, speaking under parliamentary privilege, accused Marsden of having sex with minors. In 1995 and 1996, the Seven Network's shows 'Today Tonight' and 'Witness' also aired allegations of having sex with minors against Marsden.
In response, Marsden described himself as a "promiscuous homosexual" but denied allegations of pedophilia. Channel Seven produced witnesses who claimed to have sex with Marsden while underage, but many were discredited by errors on points of fact, such as the type of house Marsden lived in and, in one case, whether he was circumcised.
In 2001, after 214 days of hearings, Justice David Levine ruled that Seven had failed to prove its allegations of child sexual abuse. Marsden was awarded $525,000 in damages and legal costs, much less than Marsden's actual costs which have been estimated at around $6 million; Seven's own costs at that stage were estimated at $10-12 million.[8]
Although Levine ruled in Marsden's favour on the allegations of child sexual abuse, his findings were deeply critical of Marsden in other regards. He found that Marsden had lied about several issues in the trial, notably his role in drafting a statutory declaration by one of the witnesses [9]. He also found that on the balance of probabilities, Marsden had used convicted rapist and murderer Les Murphy to persuade a witness to change his position, and had probably persuaded two other witnesses to influence another.[10][11]. According to then Sydney Star Observer editor Marcus O'Donnell, Marsden asked the Observer to publish the names of one of the prosecution witnesses, when there was a suppression order given on the grounds that the witness's life would be in danger if the name were published. [1]
Legal commentator Richard Ackland described the case as "probably the biggest piece of civil litigation NSW has seen for many years... without doubt the largest, longest and most comprehensive defamation case in the history of Australia. And probably one of the biggest in the history of the common law world."[12]
In 2002, the NSW Court of Appeal ruled that the compensation payout should have included consideration for hurt feelings, and ordered a new trial on damages.[13] Marsden and Seven subsequently came to a confidential out-of-court settlement, estimated by various parties as anywhere from $6 million to $9 million.[14]
[edit] Illness and death
Marsden died of stomach cancer while on holiday in Turkey on May 17, 2006, attended on his last night by two Australian Catholic clergy, the Rev'd Peter Confeggi, and the Rev'd Gerald Iverson. He had been battling the disease for four years. He was buried, according to his wishes, in a solemn Catholic Requiem Mass at St John's Church Campbelltown - his home city. Five hundred mourners attended, among them former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam, and the eulogy was delivered by Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby, who spoke of Marsden as a pioneer for openly gay people in the law. He left part of his estate to gay and lesbian organisations and to the City of Campbelltown.
[edit] Notes
- Kate McClymont. "Marsden has a final word", The Sydney Morning Herald, June 19, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.
