"Secrets that were never to be revealed"--Cover.

In June 2005, Fred van der Vyver, a young actuary and the son of a wealthy Eastern Cape farming family, was charged with murdering his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, allegedly bludgeoning her to death with a hammer as she lay on a couch in her lounge. The case against Van der Vyver seemed overwhelming. His behaviour at the time of the murder appeared suspicious and incriminating, and a letter, penned by Inge on the morning of her death, suggested that the two had been fighting. But it was forensic evidence that seemed to prove his guilt: his fingerprints were found at the scene, one of his shoes was matched to a blood stain on the bathroom floor, and traces of blood were found on an ornamental hammer that had been given to him by the victim's parents. And yet, in one of the most sensational and controversial murder trials in South African legal history, Van der Vyver's lawyers sought to turn the tables on the police, accusing them of fabricating evidence and lying to the judge. In this book prize-winning author Antony Altbeker takes you into the heat of this epic courtroom battle. Altbeker's eye-witness account of the trial presents the reader with all the evidence and testimony of the trial, while also placing it in the context of a society and a justice system that are being stretched to breaking point.

This open access book explores machine learning and its impact on how we make sense of the world. It does so by bringing together two ‘revolutions’ in a surprising analogy: the revolution of machine learning, which has placed computing on the path to artificial intelligence, and the revolution in thinking about the law that was spurred by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr in the last two decades of the 19th century. Holmes reconceived law as prophecy based on experience, prefiguring the buzzwords of the machine learning age—prediction based on datasets. On the path to AI introduces readers to the key concepts of machine learning, discusses the potential applications and limitations of predictions generated by machines using data, and informs current debates amongst scholars, lawyers and policy makers on how it should be used and regulated wisely. Technologists will also find useful lessons learned from the last 120 years of legal grappling with accountability, explainability, and biased data.

"...The importance of derivative evidence and the way that courts treat its admissibility cannot be underestimated. In many cases, the determination of whether or not derivative evidence will be admitted has the functional effect of deciding the outcome of a trial. ..." M Wiseman, "The Derivative Imperative: An Analysis of Derivative Evidence in Canada" (1997) 39 Criminal Law Quarterly 435, 491.The fate of a criminal trial can be determined by a decision by the trial judge to exclude evidence which has come about by illegal or improper investigative means. An exclusion of a confession obtained involuntarily, or drugs located in an illegal search, can result in the collapse of a case against an accused.Although much has been written in Australia on the rule and discretions to exclude such evidence, little has been written on a particular species of such evidence, that is, evidence which is derived from evidence which has been obtained by illegal or improper investigative means. This is so even though a criminal law practitioner is not infrequently faced with a brief of evidence which contains evidence which has been derived from other evidence which itself was illegally or improperly obtained.Described variously in overseas literature as "derivative evidence" or "fruit of the poisonous tree", this species of evidence gives rise to considerations which are peculiar to it when applying the exclusionary rule and discretions. Thus, the second or subsequent confession obtained after in consequence of an improperly obtained confession may require the judge to think differently on the question of exclusion. Similarly, the bank records located in consequence of scraps of paper found during an illegal search of an accused person's residence may call into play additional factors to weigh in the balance required by the public policy discretion.This text provides practitioners with a readily comprehensible analysis of the operation of the exclusionary rule and discretions in Australia, including the factors which come in to play generally with respect to all evidence illegally and improperly obtained, and more specifically with respect to derivative evidence.

Reproduction of the original: The Fruit of the Tree by Edith Wharton

Meet Peggy Lee: botanist, detective’s widow, and owner of The Potting Shed, an urban gardener’s paradise in downtown Charlotte. Mild winters keep the store thriving all year round, but there are plenty of people with colder intentions… What made Peggy’s lifelong friend Park Lamonte drive off a ramp to his death? Park’s aged mother suspects his wife Beth of killing him for the ten-million-dollar insurance policy. The police think so too. But Peggy has a growing suspicion that there’s more to the story. She’s convinced Beth is innocent—even after Park’s mother is also killed, and evidence emerges that seems to point to Beth. Can Peggy maintain her gardening business, teach her botany classes, nurture her relationship with her new man, deal with her unruly Great Dane, and still find time to extract the truth? GARDENING TIPS INCLUDED!

The hot-as-Hel series with the “Sookie Stackhouse type of vibe” (Paranormal Haven) is back—but this time the paranormal Midwestern town of Pemkowet is feeling a frost in the air and the residents are frozen in fear.... The Pemkowet Visitors Bureau has always promoted paranormal tourism—even if it has downplayed the risks (hobgoblins are unpredictable). It helps that the town is presided over by Daisy Johanssen, who as Hel’s liaison is authorized by the Norse goddess of the dead to keep Pemkowet under control. Normally, that’s easier to do in the winter, when bracing temperatures keep folks indoors. But a new predator is on the prowl, and this one thrives on nightmares. Daisy is on her trail and working intimately with her partner and sometime lover from the Pemkowet PD, sexy yet unavailable werewolf Cody Fairfax. But even as the creature is racking up innocent victims, a greater danger looms on Pewkowet’s horizon. As a result of a recent ghost uprising, an unknown adversary—represented by a hell-spawn lawyer with fiery powers of persuasion—has instigated a lawsuit against the town. If Pemkowet loses, Hel’s sovereignty will be jeopardized, and the fate of the eldritch community will be at stake. The only one who can prevent it is Daisy—but she’s going to have to confront her own worst nightmare to do it.