Lehrmann denied Higgins footage from #MeToo documentary
Rex Martinich
Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost a legal bid to access copies of all footage from a documentary featuring Brittany Higgins.
Lehrmann had issued a court summons to the producers of the documentary silenced and signaled a possible move to ban broadcasting ahead of rape trial in Queensland.
Judge Deborah Richards ruled Monday to quash Lehrmann’s subpoena for a copy of the documentary, all unused footage and the distribution schedule, finding the material was not currently relevant to the upcoming trial.
“There is no legitimate judicial purpose for this subpoena,” Judge Richards said.
Stranger Than Fiction Films, the company behind silencedHe appeared in the Queensland District Court in Toowoomba on June 18 to respond to Lehrmann’s requests.
silenced It’s a post-#MeToo movement documentary from Stranger Than Fiction Films that “reveals how libel laws have been weaponized to silence survivors,” according to court filings.
Dauid Sibtain, attorney for Stranger Than Fiction Films, said in court, opposing the subpoena: silenced He did not address Lehrmann’s upcoming trial.
“We say this is an abuse of process,” Sibtain said earlier.
“It lacks a legitimate judicial purpose.”
Lehrmann’s attorney, Zali Burrows, had told Richards that he had subpoenaed copies of the film and “unedited raw b-roll” footage that could be used to promote the film’s release.
“Mr. Lehrmann has the opportunity to see whether he would be subject to an injunction that any of these materials not be published before or during the hearing,” Burrows said.
Lehrmann, 30, faces trial from November 2, accused of raping a woman twice at a home in regional Queensland in 2021.
He has not yet made a defense, but has previously said he will object to the charges through his lawyer.
His former colleague Brittany Higgins had previously been involved in other legal proceedings involving Lehrmann.
They were silenced The Sydney Film Festival said “behind-the-headlines interviews reveal how the legal system has been used to victimise, discredit and devastate survivors.”
Higgins was listed as a key interview subject, along with human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson and actress Amber Heard.
Richards had heard the film could harm potential jurors in Lehrmann’s Queensland rape trial because it might remind them of Lehrmann’s previous trials.
“The broadcast promotion is likely to confuse the potential jury pool. [Higgins] Burrows previously said: “He speaks from his own experience or talks about it.
The film was released earlier this month and Lehrmann’s previous cases had already received extensive media coverage, Sibtain said.
Stranger Than Fiction Films requested costs from Lehrmann.
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