By 3 News online staff
Double murderer Mark Lundy says the scientific evidence used to help convict him of killing his wife and daughter was too complex for a jury.
Lundy, 56, is appealing his conviction and sentence for the murders of Christine, 38, and Amber, seven, after being found guilty by a jury for a second time in April.
The pair were killed in their Palmerston North home in August 2000.
In the notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal, it is submitted the complicated science relied upon by the Crown and also fuel consumption were main points of contention, Fairfax Media reports.
Scientific evidence, specifically around RNA which is extracted from DNA, has already been challenged in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
The issue divided the Court of Appeal judges, with one saying it lacked sufficient evidence to be used in court.
The jury heard of the new RNA test developed by Dutch scientists to check for the presence of brain matter.
Results from the method are relied on in courts only in New Zealand and the Netherlands.
Dutch forensic expert Laetitia Sijen was called as a Crown witness and said the biological matter found on Lundy's polo shirt was more likely to be human central nervous system tissue made up of brain and spinal cord, rather than animal.
Defence lawyers called on their own experts who said the RNA method wasn't ready for use in court.
Judge Simon France noted the issue with the jury during his summing up.
"It was crucial and central to the Crown case, and remains in real scientific dispute," the appeal notice says.
"I say that it is inappropriate and unrealistic to expect a jury to determine such complex issues of scientific dispute."
Petrol consumption in Lundy's car would also be a point of appeal, among a number of other issues.
There was dispute about how much petrol he would have had to use to get from a motel in Petone to his home and back – the trip in which the Crown says he killed his family.
Lundy was convicted after an eight-week long trial at the Wellington High Court and sentenced immediately to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 20 years.
The sentence took into account time already served for the murders, meaning Lundy could not be considered for parole for another seven years.
No date has been set for the hearing yet.
3 News
source: newshub archive
