- Throwing away the jail cell key
- The Australian
- 14/03/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 258 articles in 2009 )
IN most states, single-victim killers are quietly prepared for reintegration and released after seven to 15 years. In the Northern Territory, murder carries a mandatory minimum 20-year non-parole sentence, or 25 years if there are aggravating circumstances.
But even then a prisoner does not know how long their sentence will run.
Daniel Heiss is due to be released in August, when he will have served 20 years for murder. Heiss, 44, should have had a parole hearing and be preparing for release.
Instead, Heiss is detained by a Government that appears terrified of a public backlash for releasing killers. It hasn't helped that Heiss has earned the media tag of "notorious" after having twice escaped from prison.
The NT became self-governing in 1978 and by 1984 had its own criminal code; that's when the mandatory minimum 20 years for murder was introduced.
There was an expectation that milder killers sentenced from this time on would not do the full 20 years. The sentencing judge told Heiss he could expect to serve 10 to 20.
The former, long-ruling Country Liberal Party government was, however, deadly serious. There was no parole board to deal with murderers; the only way for a killer to be released was by a special cabinet mercy prerogative, which was never given.
By the time the CLP lost power in 2001, it hadn't released any killer sentenced since 1984. The problem became NT Labor's.
In 2003, Labor had created a lifers' parole board and amended the law so that murderers would serve a mandatory minimum 20 years, or 25 for aggravating circumstances, such as rape. It also included a clause allowing the Director of Public Prosecutions to apply to the court, in the 19th year, for a sentence to beextended.
This week, the DPP confirmed it would apply to detain Heiss for a longer period.
Heiss is these days a low-security prisoner, or L1, which means he wears a green T-shirt. Those being prepared for reintegration are given the lower L2 rating and a yellow shirt.
One of Heiss's fellow Aboriginal lifers is now wearing yellow and being prepared for release in 2010, which Heiss - who distracts himself by working on moody landscapes and sculptures - sees as an ominous reflection on his own status. Only three lifers have been released since 2003, all seen as low political risks. Heiss is viewed differently, even though the facts suggest he never killed anyone, although he had potent accomplice status.
Heiss was convicted with Peter Kamm for the May 14, 1989, murder of Dean Peter Robinson, on OT Downs station. Robinson was shot, burned and buried under an anthill, apparently - it's never been completely clear - because Kamm and Heiss, pig shooters, wanted several nice rifles that belonged toRobinson.
The judge told the jury Kamm fired the fatal shots: "There is no evidence upon which anyone could do any more than speculate - and this is not a court of speculation - that Heiss's shot hit the deceased at all."
Heiss - not permitted to be interviewed for this story, but known to me - has said his first escape came after lifers were told, in 1991, that the CLP had decided none of their sentences would be reviewed until they'd served 20 years.
Heiss, who had hoped he'd be out after 10, faked a peptic ulcer and abseiled with knotted sheets and towels to short-lived freedom from the fourth floor of a Darwin hospital. The second came after his photo was used in the CLP's 1994 television election campaign, with a voice-over saying, "In the territory, life means life." Heiss has pointed out that he never hurt anyone during his escapes.
Heiss's mother, Barbara, of Victoria, thinks her son has done enough. "Daniel's coming up to 20 years and his reintegration has come to a halt," she says. Barbara Heiss welcomes the DPP's decision to apply for a longer sentence for only one reason: "At least there'll be an open court case and they'll have to explain themselves."
NT DPP Richard Coates was part of Heiss's 1989 defence team and has removed himself from comment. But back in 2001, Coates and Rex Wild QC gave a joint paper to criminal lawyers calling on the NT government to review mandatory life, saying the one-size-fits-all regime was unjust.
Shadow attorney-general Jodeen Carney, reflecting a new breed of more enlightened NT conservatives, believes the law allowing the DPP to seek longer sentences at 19 years is inhumane.
"It has become politically incorrect to talk about prisoners' rights," she says.
Darwin criminal barrister Jon Tippett QC says the Government is dodging its responsibilities. "They've got to face the fact they've got a number of people in jail who've committed murder but the nature of murder is far less significant in its criminality to others," he says.
"You can't have a whole lot of people going in one end and not coming out theother."
But even then a prisoner does not know how long their sentence will run.
Daniel Heiss is due to be released in August, when he will have served 20 years for murder. Heiss, 44, should have had a parole hearing and be preparing for release.
Instead, Heiss is detained by a Government that appears terrified of a public backlash for releasing killers. It hasn't helped that Heiss has earned the media tag of "notorious" after having twice escaped from prison.
The NT became self-governing in 1978 and by 1984 had its own criminal code; that's when the mandatory minimum 20 years for murder was introduced.
There was an expectation that milder killers sentenced from this time on would not do the full 20 years. The sentencing judge told Heiss he could expect to serve 10 to 20.
The former, long-ruling Country Liberal Party government was, however, deadly serious. There was no parole board to deal with murderers; the only way for a killer to be released was by a special cabinet mercy prerogative, which was never given.
By the time the CLP lost power in 2001, it hadn't released any killer sentenced since 1984. The problem became NT Labor's.
In 2003, Labor had created a lifers' parole board and amended the law so that murderers would serve a mandatory minimum 20 years, or 25 for aggravating circumstances, such as rape. It also included a clause allowing the Director of Public Prosecutions to apply to the court, in the 19th year, for a sentence to beextended.
This week, the DPP confirmed it would apply to detain Heiss for a longer period.
Heiss is these days a low-security prisoner, or L1, which means he wears a green T-shirt. Those being prepared for reintegration are given the lower L2 rating and a yellow shirt.
One of Heiss's fellow Aboriginal lifers is now wearing yellow and being prepared for release in 2010, which Heiss - who distracts himself by working on moody landscapes and sculptures - sees as an ominous reflection on his own status. Only three lifers have been released since 2003, all seen as low political risks. Heiss is viewed differently, even though the facts suggest he never killed anyone, although he had potent accomplice status.
Heiss was convicted with Peter Kamm for the May 14, 1989, murder of Dean Peter Robinson, on OT Downs station. Robinson was shot, burned and buried under an anthill, apparently - it's never been completely clear - because Kamm and Heiss, pig shooters, wanted several nice rifles that belonged toRobinson.
The judge told the jury Kamm fired the fatal shots: "There is no evidence upon which anyone could do any more than speculate - and this is not a court of speculation - that Heiss's shot hit the deceased at all."
Heiss - not permitted to be interviewed for this story, but known to me - has said his first escape came after lifers were told, in 1991, that the CLP had decided none of their sentences would be reviewed until they'd served 20 years.
Heiss, who had hoped he'd be out after 10, faked a peptic ulcer and abseiled with knotted sheets and towels to short-lived freedom from the fourth floor of a Darwin hospital. The second came after his photo was used in the CLP's 1994 television election campaign, with a voice-over saying, "In the territory, life means life." Heiss has pointed out that he never hurt anyone during his escapes.
Heiss's mother, Barbara, of Victoria, thinks her son has done enough. "Daniel's coming up to 20 years and his reintegration has come to a halt," she says. Barbara Heiss welcomes the DPP's decision to apply for a longer sentence for only one reason: "At least there'll be an open court case and they'll have to explain themselves."
NT DPP Richard Coates was part of Heiss's 1989 defence team and has removed himself from comment. But back in 2001, Coates and Rex Wild QC gave a joint paper to criminal lawyers calling on the NT government to review mandatory life, saying the one-size-fits-all regime was unjust.
Shadow attorney-general Jodeen Carney, reflecting a new breed of more enlightened NT conservatives, believes the law allowing the DPP to seek longer sentences at 19 years is inhumane.
"It has become politically incorrect to talk about prisoners' rights," she says.
Darwin criminal barrister Jon Tippett QC says the Government is dodging its responsibilities. "They've got to face the fact they've got a number of people in jail who've committed murder but the nature of murder is far less significant in its criminality to others," he says.
"You can't have a whole lot of people going in one end and not coming out theother."
Source: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25114999-5006790,00.html
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