Diane Fingleton

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Diane Fingleton is a Queensland Magistrates Court judge, most famous for being convicted of the offence of intimidation of a witness, before the conviction was quashed on appeal.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Magistracy 2.1 Conviction 3 Appeal to the High Court 4 Present 5 Filmography

[edit] Early life

Fingleton was educated at All Hallows' School, in Brisbane. She was a stenographer on Bill Hayden's staff in the Whitlam government years [1]. She studied at university in the late 1970s and early '80s, and graduated with a law degree. She waitressed at night and studied by day [2].

[edit] Magistracy

In 1995, the Goss government appointed her to the magistracy and the Beattie government made her a senior magistrate three years later, just as it would appoint a dozen women (and 11 men) to various judicial appointments that upset Queensland's legal establishment [3].

In 1999, Fingleton was appointed to the position of Chief Magistrate. This appointment was seen as controversial amid suggestions that it was political. Appointed by Matt Foley, she was Queensland's first ever female Chief Magistrate [4].

The following year, Fingleton attracted criticism from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Paul de Jersey and others for holding reconciliation ceremonies in six Magistrates Courts in Queensland and issuing a formal apology to Indigenous peoples [5].

[edit] Conviction

In 2002, Fingleton emailed a fellow Magistrate, Basil Gribbin, threatening to have him dismissed from the position of Magistrate because he had supported a colleague [6]. This resulted in her being charged and imprisoned for retaliation against a witness, a criminal offence under the Queensland Crimes Act [7] [8]. Fingleton appealed, and the Queensland Supreme Court appeal upheld her conviction but halved her jail sentence [9].

Released later that year, Fingleton worked as a lecturer at Griffith University.

[edit] Appeal to the High Court

Fingleton, refusing to accept the decision of the Queensland judicial system, sought special leave to take her case to the High Court of Australia [10]. On October 8, the day before the 2004 federal election, Justices McHugh and Gummow granted her special leave to appeal [11]. The decision to grant leave was made just 73 minutes into the hearing[12].

The following year, in 2005, the High Court unanimously allowed the appeal and quashed Fingleton's conviction [13]. Their reasoning was that Fingleton in fact had immunity from criminal prosecution under the Queensland Magistrates Court Act for anything done in the course of her judicial or her administrative functions [14].Justice Kirby described what happened to Fingleton as 'indelible' [15]. Justice McHugh wrote that :

It would be hard to imagine a stronger case of a miscarriage of justice in the particular circumstances of the case. There is not only a question of conviction and a jail sentence, but the applicant has lost one of the most important offices in the state of Queensland. [16] [17]

Professor Rosemary Hunter, a supporter of Diane Fingleton and former Dean of the Griffith law school, has argued that Fingleton's case has raised a range of issues around party politics, gender politics and office politics [18].

[edit] Present

Later that year, Fingleton was again appointed and sworn in as a Magistrate of the Bundaberg Magistrates Court, where she continues to work.

[edit] Filmography

Fingleton also starred in the film Swimming Upstream in 2003 [19] [20], an autobiographical movie about her background and family.