High Country killer Greg Lynn wins high-stakes appeal
Updated ,first published
High Country killer Greg Lynn won a high-stakes appeal over his conviction and 32-year prison sentence for the murder of Carol Clay.
Court of Appeal judges Karin Emerton, Phillip Priest and Peter Kidd unanimously agreed on Thursday that Lynn’s conviction should be overturned and ordered his retrial.
Emerton said “serious irregularities in the trial process cannot be corrected”.
Emerton said the conduct of the trial may have led to serious injustice.
“It will be decided to hold a new hearing,” he said.
Lynn arrived at court looking relaxed and chatted with her legal team before being led into the dock. He had a new haircut, was wearing a suit and walking shoes.
Lynn was found guilty of murdering Clay, 73, at a remote campsite in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020. Clay’s camp partner was acquitted of murdering 74-year-old Russell Hill.
The former airline pilot had pleaded not guilty, claiming that the elderly couple’s deaths were accidental and that he panicked, collected Clay and Hill’s bodies in the back of the caravan, and later brought their remains back and burned them.
Judge Michael Croucher said Clay’s murder was violent, brutal and horrific.
In October, Lynn’s defense team said prosecutors were “afraid” and frequently broke the rules when questioning him at trial, so his conviction should be annulled.
defense lawyer Dermot DannKC defended five grounds of appeal, saying that it was possible for his client to die in prison.
Dann said prosecutors were breaking rules governing the fair conduct of criminal cases “so thick and fast” that he couldn’t keep up. In total, the trial judge found 17 violations.
Dann said those violations may have led the Supreme Court jury “down an impermissible path” in reaching its verdict.
“The prosecutor went crazy,” Dann said.
Jurors deliberated for seven days before denying Lynn’s claims that Clay was accidentally shot in the head during a struggle over a firearm.
KC Director of Public Prosecutions Brendan Kissane told the Court of Appeal the defense had failed to establish that a significant miscarriage of justice had occurred.
Kissane argued that any departure from the rules of justice was adequately compensated for by the trial judge, such that his instructions to the jury were “extremely favorable to the defendant”.
Also in court on Thursday were family members of Clay and Hill, senior officers including Inspector Tony Combridge, who formally oversaw the homicide investigation, and chief inspector Sergeant Brett Florence.
Lynn smiled, shook hands with her legal team and hugged them after the verdict was announced.
He smiled as did his son Geordie Lynn, who later attended the hearing.
Nearby, one of Clay’s daughters cried and was comforted by her husband.
Lynn was taken into custody and ordered to appear in court again in January.
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