A number of high-profile trials captured public attention during 2009. This week, court reporter Andrew Koubaridis revisits five of them.
In every street, in every town and city in New Zealand, people had an opinion on the Bain case.
It was hardly surprising, given the Bain family murders of 1994 were among the country's best known - and most highly publicised - mass killings.
The sight of David Bain in
his infamous jersey, walking handcuffed to and from the police station, was etched into the minds of hundreds of thousands of Kiwis.
And then there was the Privy Council appeal that quashed his murder convictions and ordered the retrial that was undoubtedly the trial of the decade.
Once the jury members were selected and told they must approach the case without prejudice, speculation began to gather pace - and none of it was unfamiliar territory.
If David Bain didn't kill his family, then the defence would have the jury - and the country - believe it was his father, Robin Bain, who pulled the trigger.
Depressed and living outside, Robin Bain was supposedly trying to cover up an incestuous relationship with one of his daughters, Laniet, when he went on his rampage.
It's not clear whether the jury believed that, or just didn't think the Crown had done enough to prove its case. After all, David Bain was like any other accused in court, innocent until proven guilty.
The retrial wasn't without controversy. Allegations of police corruption surfaced when the defence accused the officer in charge of the crime scene of planting a spectacle lens in David Bain's brother, Stephen's room.
The room was the scene of a violent struggle between Stephen and his killer.
And the lens fitted a pair of glasses found in David Bain's room, but which actually belonged to his mother.
The police officer denied planting evidence.
Bloody footprints in the Bain house, probably left by the killer, were the focus of heated debate between the prosecution and defence lawyers, as too were the origins of bloody fingerprints David Bain left on the rifle used in the killings.
The defence argued that this did not prove he was the killer and said he left the prints several months earlier when hunting.
The prints had been formed by sweat mixed with another contaminant, such as gun oil - but not blood.
One of the most startling pieces of evidence was David Bain's admission he heard sister Laniet gurgling when he came home from his paper round. His lawyers said this did nothing to prove his guilt, as she could have still been dying or already dead but still making sounds.
The Crown maintained that he must have been the shooter to have heard such noises.
Finally, after 4000 pages of evidence, 184 witnesses and 54 days, the retrial was over.
All around the country, people gathered around television sets, radios and sat poised by their computers waiting for the verdicts.
Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty. There were scenes of jubilation from the Bain camp.
David Bain left for Britain soon after the acquittals, but has since returned and is staying with the man who championed his cause, former All Black Joe Karam.
DAVID BAIN
Where: High Court at Christchurch retrial.
When: May/June.
Charges: Five counts of murder.
Verdict: Not guilty.
