KEY POINTS:
He's had a yo-yo of a week, that's for sure, lurching from public hero one minute to public loathing the next; on the telly one minute and gone to ground the next.
We find him on Thursday in the Hamilton High Court wearing a black robe and speaking
softly, but clearly, before the court.
All of three people sit in the public gallery, there are no media in sight and no doubt Chris Comeskey is relishing a bit of peace and quiet after the storm. So perhaps it's understandable he didn't look too happy when the Weekend Herald suddenly popped up, and after court had broken for the day stepped through from the public gallery to the holy ground where the lawyers sit.
"You can't come in here, only lawyers can come in here," he snapped.
This was a new one on me but no matter, what Comeskey was really indicating was that unlike earlier in the week, when he had been only too happy to talk to the media, things had changed.
The new reticence coincided with the Herald's revelations that a deal had been struck with an accused drug-dealer and gang associate in order to get the stolen war medals back.
Comeskey has been quoted as saying the return of the 96 medals, which had been awarded to 12 of the country's war heroes, was better than the birth of his children.
But after news of a deal with the accused drug-dealer broke, the public was angry. On the drive back from Hamilton, people on Willie Jackson and John Tamihere's radio show were suggesting Comeskey be thrown in jail himself until he revealed who the thieves were.
Jackson and Tamihere spent a bit of time cracking up at the hammering he was getting from callers. "The lawyer's really getting ripped to pieces on this show, poor bugger," said Jackson.
Comeskey wasn't always a lawyer. He's known these days for defending hardcore criminals and has acted for quite a few people accused of murder.
But once he was a police detective and apparently a good one. We'd wanted to ask him how someone who set off in life catching criminals had turned to defending them so vigorously in court, but as Comeskey wasn't talking we can only surmise that perhaps the career change had something to do with the fact that at one stage Comeskey was himself a defendant in court.
This was in the late 1980s, when as a policeman who had been involved in plenty of major inquiries in the Wellington area, he and another officer were involved in a fight at a party and were arrested and tried, though eventually acquitted, having claimed self defence.
A court document from the time describes the incident as "a rolling brawl or a running fight" and raised a question about whether the force used may have been more than was justified in self-defence.
It would have been in his police days that Comeskey developed contacts with the so-called criminal underworld. He learned how to talk to them and handle them.
After his own court case he stayed in the police for a while then left to become a defence lawyer.
He has defended all manner of life's down-and-outs, misfits and murderers. Clients have included Mark Lyon, the Auckland property developer who fell from grace, and notorious armed robber and prison-escaper Arthur Taylor.
Police have used Comeskey before as an intermediary. In 2000 a group of bank robbers known as the Screwdriver Gang were on the run and he was asked to make contact with them.
He said then: "New Zealand is a small place. You can run but you really can't hide for too long."
He did talk to them and reported that they were receptive to the idea of giving themselves up.
He certainly knows the underworld, from people in Lyon's shady drug world to dangerous Highway 61 characters. In 2004 he successfully defended one of the gang members accused of killing Highway 61 boss Kevin Weavers.
And he appears to have the trust and respect of some in the criminal world - such as Arthur Taylor, who sent Herald reporter Patrick Gower a message from Paremoremo where he is imprisoned.
Taylor said he had no involvement in the medals deal except by acting as a "character reference" for Comeskey.
"People came to me asking if Chris could be trusted, being an ex-detective sergeant and all. I gave a reference that he could.
"New Zealand needs to be thankful to Chris Comeskey. If there is a ceremony to return the medals, Chris deserves to be there. Deals like this can go wrong. Comeskey was the one who made sure it didn't."
Veteran defence lawyer Barry Hart says all defence lawyers know people in the criminal underworld. Hart says he is a good friend of Comeskey and describes him as an excellent and creative lawyer who is not into theatrics in the courtroom but has strong tactical skills.
"He's really good and I wouldn't say that about a lot of lawyers."
Defending sometimes unsavoury characters is what being a defence lawyer is all about, says Hart. Many defence lawyers have been involved with the major gangs of the country, but Hart points out that knowing them doesn't mean socialising with them or being part of them or advising them.
"There's a professional line that we all draw, and Chris draws, and it doesn't mean to say that you don't have contacts, of course you've got contacts because you've acted for these people."
Police arrange deals for people if it suits their purpose, Hart says.
"You know, I've had big, high-profile murder cases where the principal witnesses have been given new identities and paid thousands of dollars, and you could say 'Well, is it right that people get paid for giving evidence?' So at the end of the day what's the difference? They get favours and police do it all the time.
"I mean, they pay narks all the time, there's a whole series of informers right throughout the country that are currently sitting talking right now getting paid for giving information and dobbing people in and no one thinks that's wrong."
A former colleague wasn't surprised to hear Comeskey was the one who cracked the medals case.
"It doesn't make you a better or worse person that you associate with those people, it's just a fact of life you have to deal with people like that."
At one stage Comeskey contemplated another career change. In 1999 he stood for Parliament and was placed a respectable 13 on the New Zealand First list.
He also contested the very safe Mt Roskill seat but was trounced by Labour stalwart Phil Goff, winning 585 votes to Goff's 18,475.
Winston Peters appears to be the one in New Zealand First who knows him best, but Peters is out of cellphone coverage in Zambia.
New Zealand First MP Ron Mark, who was whip at the time, says though he didn't know Comeskey well, he always liked him. He still does.
Mark is ex-military and liked that Comeskey had been a police officer. Mark has no time for criminals or gangs and says "it runs against every fibre in my body to accept" that a deal had been struck with a gang associate in order to secure the medals.
But the medals would have easily fetched $30 million on the black market and they needed to be recovered. They're national treasures, after all.
As a former soldier, Mark was gutted when the medals were stolen.
"It strikes right to the heart of the military that you should steal their heritage, their whakapapa.
"Charlie Upham was my personal patron along with the class of '71 of regular force cadet school. Jack Hinton was a founding member of New Zealand First and a personal friend. The thought that those medals were in the hands of the criminal fraternity was just gut-wrenching and enraged you, made you furious ... "
Comeskey, he says, made a brave decision.
While Mark plans to seek assurances from the Prime Minister that the gang associate go-between does not receive any favour when he faces his drugs charges, he says if he saw Comeskey today he would say "thank you."
The lack of thanks is something which puzzles former defence lawyer Christopher Harder.
Harder has already suggested his friend Comeskey be offered a QC for going above and beyond the call of duty.
"He had the initiative and the drive and the fortitude and the background as a former police officer and he had the contacts he was able to utilise and it really was masterful.
"He did what the police couldn't, he did what no other lawyer contemplated doing and so, yeah, one has to take one's hat off to him."
Harder commends Comeskey as a loyal friend. Harder fell from grace himself and was disbarred in 2006, though is applying to practise again.
He refers to this time as his "very public train smash" and says Comeskey stuck by him, giving him an office in his chambers opposite the Auckland District Court and supporting his application to be readmitted to the bar.
Comeskey is a generous soul, has an enterprising brain - and a wicked sense of humour, says Harder.
"He's half responsible for me losing almost 30 kilos."
Comeskey, Harder explains, has a website called 0800 4 licence where if you have lost your licence you can apply online for a limited one.
Harder says that until very recently, instead of a photo of Comeskey's three children on the website, "there was a great, big, fat picture of me with the heading 'when walking just isn't an option, call 0800 4 licence, we get you driving again'."
What happened was that at the time of Harder's "forced sabbatical" from the law, he had been in the middle of a case in Blenheim and Comeskey and his private investigator took over the case and pulled off a miracle result.
At a barbecue to celebrate, Harder ended up eating four or five steaks and later that night, when the three were sharing a room in over-booked Blenheim, Comeskey took a picture of Harder "in a fat, bloated position of me in my underwear and he blackmailed me ... he put the picture on his website hoping I would sue so that he would get publicity for 0800 4 licence, but instead all he did was continue to test how well my anger management programme had worked ... "
Comeskey is no shrinking violet but when you are charged with a serious crime, you sure don't want a shrinking violet, says Harder.
"And the law's all the better for him and the nation is all the better for him and I'm just amazed that you haven't heard Helen Clark or the police or anybody else publicly say 'thank you, Mr Comeskey'."
And, actually, says Harder, there was a very good reason why Comeskey was so driven to get those medals back.
He wanted to do it for his dad who recently died.
"His dad was a military man and when the medals were stolen his dad had a few teary eyes and he knew his dad was not well.
"He did give a promise to his dad. Whether he wants that known or not, I don't know."
