DPP loses High Court challenge to Michael Connolly’s miscarriage of justice certificate

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court dismissed the DPP’s challenge to Michael Connolly’s miscarriage of justice certificate. Mr Justice Garrett Simons dismissed the case in its entirety on 11 December 2023. The proceedings were reported on 11 December 2023.

Mr Connolly had pleaded not guilty to IRA membership. Gardaí observed him driving in a convoy on 16 December 2014 with another man who was then found with two improvised explosive devices. Mr Connolly spent 14 months in jail. His 2017 Special Criminal Court conviction was set aside on appeal, and he was acquitted following a retrial there in 2019.

The acquittal followed the Special Criminal Court’s finding that it could not rely on a Garda assistant commissioner’s belief evidence as independent from the investigation, creating a danger of double-counting. In April 2021, that court certified a miscarriage of justice because of a grave defect in the administration of justice brought about by agents of the State.

The DPP argued that circumstantial evidence tended to implicate Mr Connolly in transporting the devices. Mr Justice Simons rejected the contention that the criminal court had positively found him involved, saying such a finding would conflict with the presumption of innocence. Hugh Hartnett SC, for Mr Connolly, said the court was being asked to make a half finding inconsistent with that principle. Questioned by the judge, the DPP’s lawyers accepted that Mr Connolly had been acquitted and was not guilty of the offence.

Mr Justice Simons held that certification did not require proof of factual innocence. A grave defect in the administration of justice was a distinct ground for certification, and the Special Criminal Court’s decision was open to it on the evidence. Nothing in its judgment displaced the presumption of innocence.