Lawyer’s charges could be dismissed | | The Australian By Lauren Ahwan.
A MAGISTRATE has threatened to dismiss criminal charges against a prominent Adelaide lawyer unless prosecutors better detail their allegations. Magistrate Fred Field said he was not satisfied with the prosecution’s attempts to provide particulars of charges faced by lawyer Eugene Norman McGee and his brother Craig Patrick McGee.Both men were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice following a hit-and-run crash in 2003 that killed a cyclist.

Mr Field told prosecutor Peter Brebner that he had failed to satisfactorily provide particulars, as previously ordered. The other crown prosecutor is Caroline Mealor.

Lawyers for the Mr McGees today argued in the Adelaide Magistrates Court that if Mr Brebner could not provide sufficient detail, the charges should be dropped – to which Mr Field agreed. “I should make it clear … I’m not satisfied with the response to the order (to provide particulars),” Mr Field said to Mr Brebner.

If prosecutors failed to provide further information before the next court hearing then “I may be sympathetic to (the) application to have the proceedings dismissed”, Mr Field said.

Eugene McGee was fined $3100 and disqualified from driving for 12 months after being found guilty of driving without care on the night he hit and killed cyclist Ian Humphrey, before fleeing the scene.

A subsequent royal commission found the lawyer and his brother returned to the scene a short time after the collision but, when stopped at a roadblock, did not identify themselves to police, resulting in the perverting justice charges being laid.

The brothers were yet to enter a plea to the charges but, if convicted, each face a maximum of four years jail.

The matter will return to court next month.