Jonathan Fitzgerald loses appeal over murder conviction

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

Jonathan Fitzgerald lost his appeal against his murder conviction at the Court of Appeal on 25 July 2016. The conviction concerned the shooting of Noel Crawford outside his parents’ home in O’Malley Park, Southill, Limerick, in 2006.

Fitzgerald had been convicted by a jury and received the mandatory life sentence in 2011. The appeal challenged how the trial judge dealt with evidence from Laura Kelly, who the defence argued should have been treated as an accomplice.

The Court of Appeal said the defence had not raised that issue at trial and that the judge had properly addressed the case actually presented to the jury. The court dismissed the appeal.