Disgraced magistrate to go to jail
Melbourne Age June 26 2003
Disgraced Queensland chief magistrate Di Fingleton will lose her job and have to serve six months in jail after a failed appeal bid today.
Fingleton had her sentence for retaliating against a witness reduced when the Court of Appeal in Brisbane found it should be suspended after she serves six months of her original 12-month sentence.
Fingleton, 56, was originally ordered to serve at least eights in jail, because legislation states prisoners must complete two-thirds of any sentence of less than two years.
The defence had asked that the sentence be wholly suspended and also appealed a Supreme Court jury's guilty verdict against her on June 5.
Fingleton was found to have threatened to demote coordinating magistrate Basil Gribbin over an affidavit he wrote to a judicial committee supporting another magistrate who was fighting a transfer decision.
Court of Appeal justices Geoff Davies, Bruce McPherson and Glen Williams today found that it was "objectively open" to the jury to find her guilty.
In a joint written judgment, the court said it was a very serious offence and more serious in Fingleton's case because it was her duty to protect witnesses against such conduct.
"... those occupying prominent positions in public life who commit serious offences that are facilitated by abusing the powers and the trust confided in them should not expect to escape lightly," the judgment said.
However, they effectively reduced the time she will spend in jail by two months, saying Fingleton had suffered and would continue to suffer greatly as a result of the offence.
"In addition to the disgrace of her conviction, she cannot expect to retain her position in the Magistracy; and ... her career in the law is now at an end," the judgment said.
"As a result, she will also sustain extensive disadvantages of a financial kind."
The court also noted she was being held in protective custody at a Brisbane women's prison and was not at risk of reoffending.
Outside court, Sisters Inside spokeswoman Deb Kilroy said she was going to see Fingleton to tell her the result, and up until now she had been "okay".
Fingleton was not in court for today's decision.
She was being held at the Brisbane Women's Prison at Wacol, on Brisbane's southwestern outskirts.
"We focused on the fact that 12 months is her sentence and anything else is a bonus," Ms Kilroy said.
"She's experiencing the cruel and unusual punishment that every woman goes through in prison."
Fingleton's solicitor Patrick Murphy left court, declining to comment.
- AAP