Judgment reserved in appeal against murder conviction

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment on an appeal by a Co Dublin man, Francis Palmer, against his conviction for the murder of a Co Tipperary farmer in 1996.

Danny Fanning died from shock and haemorrhage after an artery in his leg was severed when he was shot, after a gang of armed and masked men broke into his home and tied up his wife and daughter.

In May 1997, two men were jailed for life after they were convicted of the murder of Mr Fanning. They were Ivor Sweetman (50), Tallaght, Dublin, and Francis Palmer (30), Lucan, Co Dublin.

In October 2000, Sweetman was granted an appeal against his conviction and a retrial was ordered. Presenting the appeal yesterday, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, said the prosecution case was "very thin" and rested on alleged verbal admissions.

He argued that the trial judge had erred in a number of matters.

These included the permitting of the jury to receive, among the exhibits, a baseball bat found at Palmer's home. The bat had no relevance to the case and its inclusion by the prosecution was disgraceful and prejudicial to his client in circumstances where another bat, of the same make, was found in a getaway car used by the raiders.

The second bat had been used in a foul way to brutalise Mr Fanning, Mr Sammon said.

Another ground of appeal was that the judge had failed to direct the jury properly over alleged verbal admissions and particularly that alleged verbal admissions by Sweetman were not admissible.

Mr Kenneth Mills SC, for the DPP, defended the exhibition of the baseball bat. He said it was relevant on the basis that Palmer had said it was for his own protection. This was not the normal purpose for a baseball bat.

Mr Mills also denied there was any breach of the judge's rules in relation to how statements made by others were presented to Palmer. He argued the jury had adequate evidence from Palmer's alleged verbal admission to return a verdict of guilty.

After considering the submissions, the three judges indicated they wished to deliver a written judgment and would do so as soon as possible.