Victoria’s judicial watchdog has dropped its investigation of a complaint against Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd SC, who accused the judge of making comments attacking her professional integrity.
Former Supreme Court of Victoria Justice Lex Lasry served with the “highest standards of integrity”, and the circumstances that led to his resignation from the bench were “regrettable and extraordinary”, the president of Australia’s association of judges has said as reports emerge that the DPP has made a complaint about a second judge.
The DPP’s complaint to Victoria’s judicial watchdog that prompted the shock resignation of Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry was an abuse of process, experts say, and the judge’s decision to step down was a “deeply saddening end to a stellar judicial career”. But the Office of Public Prosecutions has strongly rejected the claim.
A high-profile criminal judge in Victoria has stunned a courtroom with his announcement from the bench that he would resign after learning of a DPP complaint to the state’s judicial commission over his handling of a case linked to the Eastern Freeway accident that killed four police officers.