Following today’s announcement by the CCRC that they are referring the convictions of Jamie Smith for murder, attempted murder, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, Michael Madden of Madden & Finucane Solicitors said:
“We had submitted an application to the CCRC for Jamie Smith’s case to be referred to the Court of Appeal to overturn his convictions on the basis that his case is a miscarriage of justice.
“In correspondence to Madden & Finucane, the CCRC confirmed it has concluded that as result of a change to the law regarding joint enterprise, there is a real possibility the Court of Appeal will find that it would be a substantial injustice for Mr Smith’s convictions to stand. After considering our application, the CCRC has determined that there is a real possibility that the Court of appeal will find the convictions unsafe and therefore quash the convictions.
“It is significant that this is the first referral by the CCRC to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland since the Supreme Court judgement of Jogee in 2016 changed the law regarding joint enterprise. Joint enterprise cases have a high hurdle to clear but the CCRC has concluded that there is a strong case for Jamie Smith’s convictions to be overturned.”
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