Edel Doherty, Kyle Rooney and Declan Corcoran lose appeal

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

Edel Doherty, Kyle Rooney and Declan Corcoran lost their Supreme Court appeal over trial before a jury for allegedly identifying Ana Kriegel’s killers; the judgment was reported on 14 November 2024.

The three are accused of breaching publication restrictions by posting photographs or naming the teenage boys convicted of Kriegel’s murder. The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed their appeal against the decision that the cases should be tried before a judge and jury in the Circuit Court, where penalties can be more severe than in the District Court.

The appeal followed a High Court ruling in 2022 that the cases should return to the District Court for reconsideration. The Court of Appeal reversed that ruling, and the Supreme Court refused the further appeal.

The Supreme Court held that the second District Court judge could decide the alleged offences were not minor and decline jurisdiction. The accused had argued that the judge could not revisit the earlier decision to accept jurisdiction.