Documents obtained under freedom of information raise questions about how senior NSW prosecutors came to publicly support DPP Sally Dowling, after being given just 40 minutes to express contrary views.

Senior NSW barristers, including a number of silks, were arguably railroaded into giving public support to NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling, SC, at the time a parliamentary committee found she had lied to it.

Documents obtained under NSW’s Government Information (Public Access) Act by Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence show that the widely reported show of high-level support for Dowling supposedly came together on only 40 minutes’ notice – after hours on a Tuesday evening.

The statement said that “The Crown Prosecutors of NSW express their support” for Dowling and “The Crown Prosecutors are significantly concerned about the unfounded and biased findings” of committee members.

The only reading of that statement is that all Crown prosecutors were backing Dowling – something Lawrence says is simply untrue.

The information released to Lawrence (only a fraction of what was sought) included an email from Brett Hatfield, SC, at 5.50pm on 7 July, to various leading barristers, seeking their support for the statement which was proposed to be issued “around 6.30pm”.

Forty minutes. Imagine the outcry from the silks if jurors were given only that long to decide trials.

Jurors, of course, receive a multitude of........

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