[Dennis] Barritt was critical of the police and the inadequacy of its investigation. And the failure of the Northern Territory government to act on a warning that dingoes posed at Uluru. ibid.
The first inquest found that Michael and Lindy Chamberlain had nothing to do with Azaria’s death but formally introduced the notion of human intervention. ibid.
The trial of Lindy Chamberlain for the murder of her daughter, and Michael Chamberlain as an accessory, was expected to run for six weeks. It was billed as the Trial of the Century. ibid.
The local Darwin jury was subjected to claim and counter-claim of forensic evidence. ibid.
‘A guilty verdict: I felt calm but numb.’ ibid. Lindy
Across the country a grass-roots movement took shape. Led by the Seventh Day Adventist community, the eyewitnesses and ordinary citizens who believed a grave miscarriage of justice had occurred. ibid.
Fuelled by sensational headlines the public rushed to judgment. The first Coronial inquest was held in Alice Springs. Accused: Trial in the Outback II
Lindy was allowed one precious hour with her new daughter Kahlia. ibid.
Over the next five months the Chamberlains’ defence team presented their case to the federal court. They tried to introduce new evidence from witnesses. ibid.
‘Get over yourself and take a stand. You’ve got to have balls to say this in Darwin – you’re wrong.’ ibid. Lindy
MPs seek release of Lindy on licence. ibid. newspaper article
The Northern Territory government took no action. ibid.
Channel 9 phone poll: Do you think Lindy Chamberlain should be released on compassionate grounds? Yes: 39.3%; No: 60.7%. ibid.
Searchers made a startling discovery … ‘The discovery of a baby matinee jacket has given new impetus today to calls for a federal government inquiry into the Azaria Chamberlain case’ … This new evidence forced the Northern Territory government to act. ibid. news
Lindy and Michael had their convictions quashed. ibid.
This is a film about injustice, injustice on a scale most of us wouldn’t imagine possible in this country. It’s a film about the imprisonment of people without trial, of innocent people – first offenders, petty offenders and children. John Pilger, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, ATV 1974
Many thousands who almost unnoticed in the last few years have been caught in a system which has become almost as chaotic and repressive as in countries without even the pretence of our bill of rights. ibid.
Out of 50,00 people whom magistrates remand in custody every year, more than half of 25,000 people are later proved completely innocent or are merely fined or are given conditional discharge. ibid.
In the fall of 1977 Billy Milligan committed multiple crimes against women near the Ohio State Campus including the robbery, kidnapping and rape of four women. True Crime Recaps: Billy Milligan Case: 24 Personalities, Not Guilty?! Youtube 8.57, 2022
Billy claimed he was innocent: psychologists discovered he had at least ten personalities living inside his head, and the real culprits were two of those alters. ibid.
Ultimately, a judge believed him: he was the first man in US history to be found not guilty by reason of insanity based on dissociative identity disorder. ibid.