Lloyd Rayney
Introduction
Lloyd Patrick Rayney (b. Aden, Yemen 1962) is a Western Australian barrister and former Crown prosecutor who came to prominence when he was charged and acquitted in 2012 of the murder or manslaughter of his wife Corryn Rayney.
Acquittal
Rayney's wife, Corryn, was murdered in August 2007. In the following month, Rayney was publicly named by police as "the prime and only suspect", though he was not charged with the murder until December 2010, more than three years after the event. In a three-month trial which began on 16 July 2012, he was found not guilty. Three interstate judges unanimously dismissed a prosecution appeal, and upheld the trial judge's verdict.
Defamation suits
Rayney v Hughes
In 2003, Rayney sued art critic Robert Hughes for allegedly calling him a "curry muncher" in the course of a trial at which Rayney was a Crown prosecutor. The action was settled out of court.
Rayney v State of Western Australia
As of April 2017, Rayney was in court suing the state for compensation over a WA Police media conference in September 2007, during which a senior officer called him "the prime and only suspect" in the death of his wife. If successful, Rayney could be awarded millions of dollars in the biggest defamation payout ever awarded in WA.
In a preliminary hearing on 16 August 2016, Judge John Chaney ordered that the case be heard by a judge sitting alone "either because it involves a prolonged examination of records, or because the issue of the truth of the alternative imputations cannot, because of the extent and complexity of consideration of documents, be conveniently considered and resolved by a jury."
Witnesses at the defamation hearing included close relatives of the murder victim who shared a belief that Rayney was the killer. Rayney's counsel "accused them of bias and feeding gossip to the police."