Auckland lawyer Davina Murray sacked rapist for smuggling banned material

Lawyer Davina Murray after being charged in the courtroom at Auckland District Court. photo/file

An Auckland woman, who lost her legal career after smuggling iPhones, cigarettes and lighters to a convicted rapist and murderer, has launched a bid to return to the profession.

In February 2015, the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyors Disciplinary Tribunal ordered that Davina Valerie Murray be removed from the roles of barrister and solicitor.

The decision was made following Murray’s conviction under the Reform Act for giving his client an Apple iPhone, a cigarette and a cigarette lighter at Mount Eden Prison.

That client was Liam James Reid who is serving a life sentence for the 2007 rape and murder of a deaf woman Emma Agnew in Christchurch, as well as the rape, attempted murder and robbery of a 21-year-old student in Dunedin nine days later. Used to be.

Murray – who has since married Reed and now uses his last name – was later sentenced to 50 hours of community work for his humiliation.

Liam James Reid says he is an innocent man and has been wrongfully convicted. Photo / New Zealand

The tribunal ruled that Murray’s sentence “demonstrates his fitness to practice while defaming the legal profession”.

He confirmed this week that he had applied to be reinstated in the roles of barrister and solicitor.

“Justice is my passion,” she told the Herald.

“I have so much to offer to marginalized people in a society that interferes with the justice system.

“I was legally entitled to apply after being struck off after a period of five years had elapsed.

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“Seven years have passed and it’s time.”

If her application is successful she hopes to focus her practice on criminal law and “miscarriages of justice arising from a very broken system.”

“I am qualified and able to make a difference in the profession in which I have trained,” she said.

Asked what she would say to those who thought her application should not be accepted given her past humiliation, she said: “No comment”.

“I would like the opportunity to discuss my thoughts in detail later,” she said.

“It is not appropriate until further legal submissions have been made to this application.”

The application is made in his married name.

Davina Murray soon after was accused of smuggling goods into prison for convicted rapist and murderer Liam Reid. Photo / New Zealand

Following her conviction, the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) refused to renew her certificate of practice.

Then-President Chris Moore said the crime had “severely threatened lawyers who had easier access to their clients in prison than other visitors”.

Moore said at the time, “Ms. Murray’s actions were a gross violation of the mutual trust and respect between a lawyer and prison officers.”

“Access rights enjoyed by lawyers are privileges that must be strongly respected and respected by lawyers as they support our entire justice system.”

Moore said the abuse of that relationship “discredited the legal profession”.

“It also caused a review Prison security and consequently restrictions on visits between lawyers and prisoners have increased,” he said.

“The decision of the Tribunal is wholly justified.”

Murray filed his application on May 31 and paid a filing fee of $320.

She will now file the submission and supporting documents for the application.

The NZLS has 20 days to file a protest or “no submission”.

If issues are raised a teleconference will be held and the next course of action will be decided.

Reid’s case and conviction were covered in the Herald podcast A Moment in Crime.

He was convicted and sentenced for rape and murder in 2008.

He has always maintained his innocence and says that the police found the wrong man for both the Dunedin rape and the horrific murder of Agnew.

In 2009, an appeal against his conviction was dismissed in the Court of Appeal.

In 2012, the Supreme Court also rejected Reid’s application to appeal further.

But in 2018 he told the High Court in Auckland during a civil case against a television production company that he hoped a new bid for independence would be successful.

Court documents at the time stated that Reid intended to reopen his case and seek further appeal or reconsideration.

Emma Agnew was murdered in Christchurch by Liam James Reed. photo / supply

He argued that the show the production company was making about his case could present “a real risk of bias in matters or issues before the court”.

“I have always maintained my innocence with respect to the Christchurch case and the Dunedin case,” Reid said in an affidavit.

The production company’s lawyer said that although it was “technically possible” for a person in Reid’s position to reopen the sentence – it was “highly speculative whether there would be another appeal or retrial”.

“There is no application before any court in respect of his sentence and he has exhausted all his appeal rights,” he said.

Reed’s case was unsuccessful.

Justice Kit Toogood said there was a “fundamental flaw” in Reid’s application.

“There is no appeal and no proceeding in which any application for contempt of court or the risk of contempt can be entertained,” he said.

,[Reid’s] case there is no chance of success and I order that [the civil case] be killed.”

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