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John Marsden
(January 3, 1942 - May 17, 2006) Australia

John Marsden

Lawyer

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Marsden attended St Johns Preparatory College in Campbelltown and St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill before entering a seminary to study for the priesthood. After deciding the priesthood was not for him, he completed a law degree at Sydney University, graduating in 1966.

After completing his Bachelor of Laws, Marsden established a law firm in Campbelltown in southwest Sydney. This firm grew from Marsden as a sole practitioner to among the largest law firms in Sydney. Marsden was a prominent resident of Campbelltown throughout his life and was often quoted as saying "There are two great cities in the world - Rome and Campbelltown."

Marsden held a number of prominent positions throughout his career including President of the New South Wales Law Society, President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties and member of the New South Wales Police Board.

In 1994 New South Wales MP Deirdre Grusovin, speaking under parliamentary privilege, accused Marsden of having sex with minors. In 1995 and 1996, the Seven Network's shows 'Today Tonight' and 'Witness' also aired allegations of having sex with minors against Marsden.

In response, Marsden described himself as a "promiscuous homosexual" but denied allegations of pedophilia. Channel Seven produced witnesses who claimed to have sex with Marsden while underage, but many were discredited by errors on points of fact, such as the type of house Marsden lived in and, in one case, whether he was circumcised.

In 2001, after 214 days of hearings, Justice David Levine ruled that Seven had failed to prove its allegations of child sexual abuse. Marsden was awarded $525,000 in damages and legal costs, much less than Marsden's actual costs which have been estimated at around $6 million; Seven's own costs at that stage were estimated at $10-12 million.

Although Levine ruled in Marsden's favour on the allegations of child sexual abuse, his findings were deeply critical of Marsden in other regards. He found that Marsden had lied about several issues in the trial, notably his role in drafting a statutory declaration by one of the witnesses.

He also found that on the balance of probabilities, Marsden had used convicted rapist and murderer Les Murphy to persuade a witness to change his position, and had probably persuaded two other witnesses to influence another.

According to then Sydney Star Observer editor Marcus O'Donnell, Marsden asked the Observer to publish the names of one of the prosecution witnesses, when there was a suppression order given on the grounds that the witness's life would be in danger if the name were published.

In 2002, the NSW Court of Appeal ruled that the compensation payout should have included consideration for hurt feelings, and ordered a new trial on damages. Marsden and Seven subsequently came to a confidential out-of-court settlement, estimated by various parties as anywhere from $6 million to $9 million.

Marsden died of stomach cancer while on holiday in Turkey. He had been battling the disease for four years. He was buried, according to his wishes, in a solemn Catholic Requiem Mass at St John's Church Campbelltown - his home city. Five hundred mourners attended, among them former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam, and the eulogy was delivered by Justice of the High Court of Australia Michael Kirby, who spoke of Marsden as a pioneer for openly gay people in the law. He left part of his estate to gay and lesbian organisations and to the City of Campbelltown.

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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