SYDNEY, Australia -- The operator of a website specializing in criminal public records said he won't be bullied into closing it down after a murder trial was aborted because of material contained on the site.
In Victoria Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice George Hampel established what could be a legal precedent by aborting a murder retrial because jurors could learn details about the defendant's first trial through CrimeNet.
That prompted Rob Hulls, attorney general in Victoria, Australia's second most populous state, to demand that CrimeNet be shut down until all Australia's state attorneys general meet in late July to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has warned that CrimeNet could potentially be found in contempt of court if it doesn't comply with the attorney general's request.
"We are a legitimate company providing information on the public record," said Ken Schultz, who runs CrimeNet.
Schultz remained defiant, saying his website merely provides an easily searchable compilation of public records readily available in Australian courthouses and newspapers.
But Hulls said hundreds of cases could be at risk.
Schultz said the issue is being overblown. He also said that access logs indicate no one recently accessed the records of the specific defendant in question. What's more, the site has tightened its access.
"On the site, users have to accept certain terms and conditions, and one of those is that he is not a juror seeking information on a person in trial he or she is sitting on," Schultz said. "We believe that with these new barriers to entry, if a juror goes and looks up information on a particular defendant, he'll be in breach of his duties."
Legal authorities argue the site poses a threat to the legal system's ability to provide fair trials. They also worry that information on the site, often gleaned from newspapers, might be inaccurate or incomplete, particularly when convictions are later overturned on appeal, new trials are ordered, or court records sealed after a period of good behavior.
Privacy advocates also worry rehabilitated criminals faced having a specter hanging over their entire lives as neighbors and potential employers readily learn their pasts.
Schultz said similar details are readily available from other website databases, such as the Australasian Legal Information Institute, which provides free Internet access to Australian legal materials.
"I think it is pretty rich of the DPP threatening and bullying us," Schultz said Thursday. "There are a number of legal sites out there that are doing exactly the same thing as us -- a number of legal databases, but they don't get bullied by them."
He said CrimeNet's details of the original murder case in question were gleaned from a Melbourne newspaper, which hasn't been approached to purge its records or shut down its website.
As for incomplete or inaccurate records, Schultz said CrimeNet will expunge any incorrect or outdated information.
"One thing I'm suggesting to the attorney general is that they cooperate with us, and provide us with information on retrials, appeals and spent convictions (i.e. those purged from legal records after a period of good behavior)," Schultz said. "This part does need fixing, but the onus is on them. However, we continue to maintain we are entitled to put out information on the public record."
Jane Wilson, spokeswoman for Victorian Attorney General Hulls, remained unimpressed.
"Anyone who publishes materials under certain circumstances about those on trial can be held in contempt," she said. "For instance, journalists operate under certain restraints. At risk here is the integrity of the entire justice system."
Meanwhile, Schultz is pressing on. Since opening his site, he said it has had more than one million visitors. He also said he has fielded queries from the United States, UK, Japan, and Brazil from entrepreneurs and potential partners interested in setting up similar sites.
