David Lyttle clarification: Murder conviction quashed

David Lyttle had his murder conviction quashed. Photo / RNZ

On July 6 2022, the New Zealand Herald published a story about David Lyttle's appeal to the Supreme Court, in which he was seeking to make the Crown prosecutor pay half of the costs he incurred in relation to his trial for the murder of Brett Hall.

Mr Lyttle had been convicted of the murder in 2019, but following a successful appeal a retrial was ordered and the charge was dismissed.

The Supreme Court did not grant Mr Lyttle leave to appeal the decision as to payment of costs, but was critical of the delays by the prosecution in bringing him to trial, which it found to be attributable to repeated failures by the police to comply with their disclosure obligations.

The original version of the article noted that the murder charge had been dismissed on the basis of the delays referred to by the Supreme Court and due to issues bringing his case to trial.

As a matter of clarification, Mr Lyttle's murder conviction was quashed, and he was deemed by the court to have been acquitted.

The judge found that there was a lack of direct forensic evidence, and the defence case that Hall was killed by his drug dealing associates was more compelling than the prosecution theory Mr Lyttle was responsible, such that a jury could not reasonably convict him on the available evidence.

We regret any confusion that resulted from the publication of the earlier story.