Police do not want Taser cam

Marie Dyhrberg appears on morning TV to talk about Police not wanting Tasers videoed.

Taser as torture

This week, a videotape was made public showing Fort Worth police Tasing and kicking a man. Now a Tarrant County civil rights group says it's becoming a disturbing trend.

The man who was Tased has filed a complaint against two officers for excessive force and perjury. The video sparked an internal affairs investigation.

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Police dealing with Auckland Child Abuse cases

Auckland Barrister Marie Dyhrberg says, in her experience, Auckland does not have a problem with delays to police investigations into child abuse cases.

Police are undertaking a national review of case loads and management, following revelations of a three-year backlog of child abuse cases in the Wairarapa.

Dyhrberg says in the cases she has been involved in, child abuse allegations are usually investigated and either resolved or are before the courts within three months. She says particularly over the past few years, police appear to be giving such cases priority and are putting resources into them.

Ms Dyhrberg says it is important for all parties that a claim is investigated fully before any charges are laid.

Multi shot tasers

Marie Dyhrberg quoted in a US article concerning multiple shot Tasers, with regard to the police shooting of an Auckland actor when a Taser was not available on the scene.

The New American

Access to Justice Reduced With Legal Aid Cuts

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excerpt:

Barrister Marie Dyhrberg said that Mr Power had not qualified his comments by referring to "some" or "a few" lawyers. "He actually said 'lawyers' - meaning that in his view a majority or substantial number are committing fraud on the system by deliberately manufacturing false reasons for adjournments to obtain money which amounts to criminal fraud."

Ms Dyhrberg said that, unless the minister could substantiate his claims with specific examples to confirm that a majority or substantial number of lawyers had acted in this way, his statements could well amount to defamation.

She called on the minister to back up his claims by providing specific details of the names of lawyers and the times and places at which such behaviour had occured. Ms Dyhrberg said that the remarks also cast a slur on reputations of judges, as there was an implication that judges were either complicit with lawyers engaging in such behavious, or were incompetent in failing to prevent it. "The reality is that (the comments are) untrue. Only when there is a really good basis for an adjournment will you get it."

Taser use restriction

Campaign Against the Taser spokeswoman Marie Dyhrberg welcomed the news that operational guidelines prevented New Zealand officers from firing near accelerants.

"At least the potential for this has been considered by NZ police and we have guidelines prohibiting it," she told the NZ Herald.

Police records show Tasers have been "presented" 33 times and discharged five times up until the end of June.

The Defence of Provocation

Opinion

Provocation was used in the recent defence of Weatherston for stabbing Sophie Elliot 216 times.

There was also a recent case where "gay panic" was used as provocation successfully when a man became violent after alleged advances by a man, and killed him with extraordinary violence.

Is there a conflict between these findings? Is the defense of "provocation" being questioned due to this inconsistancy? Another question, if provocation is removed as a potential defense, since every case before the courts are defended, how would either of these cases be defended? Would it be murder vs justifiable homocide?