{"id":756826,"date":"2026-06-24T08:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756826\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:24:16","slug":"former-afl-umpire-michael-pells-corrupt-brownlow-betting-charges-should-be-dropped-over-technicality-argue-defence-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756826\/","title":{"rendered":"Former AFL umpire Michael Pell\u2019s corrupt Brownlow betting charges should be dropped over technicality, argue defence lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The lawyer representing a former AFL umpire accused of suspicious betting practices has indicated he will rely on a technicality unique to Victorian law to push for the case to be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Michael Pell was arrested and charged in August<\/a> over the alleged use and communication of \u201ccorrupt conduct information\u201d for wagering purposes relating to the 2021 and 2022 Brownlow Medals.<\/p>\n

A two-day committal hearing began at Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on Wednesday morning to determine whether the 35-year-old will stand trial.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer AFL umpire Michael Pell leaving Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on Wednesday morning.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Waiting for proceedings to begin, Pell, 35, glanced around at the dozen or so people in the courtroom. Beside him, his brother Donovan, 32, and friend Mitch Lucas, 33, stared straight ahead, the pair facing related charges for allegedly using information \u201cabout conduct that corrupts or would corrupt a betting outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

Through the two witnesses called \u2013 one current and one former detective senior constable involved in the police investigation \u2013 the lawyers for the co-accused laid the groundwork for the technicality their collective defence will rest on: that the charges relate not to the corrupt use of information, but the sharing of information about corrupt conduct.<\/p>\n

After confirming with both witnesses that Pell \u201cdid not corrupt or improperly influence\u201d the actual allocation of Brownlow votes, it was argued that the prescribed charges did not fit the offence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an insider information case, but these are not insider information charges,\u201d David Hallowes, SC, representing the younger Pell, contended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conduct of awarding the votes was not corrupt, and so the Crown case fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawyers for the three co-accused men indicated that this argument would form the basis of their collective defence, before presenting the magistrate with a hefty folder of written submissions they said backed up their position.<\/p>\n

\"DonovanDonovan Pell, brother of ex-AFL umpire Michael Pell, leaving Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court after the first day of their committal hearing.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Samuel Tovey, who is representing the older Pell, flagged that the \u201cnow fabled folder\u201d would reference a Commonwealth review that confirmed the understanding that \u201cVictoria alone among jurisdictions in Australia chose not to legislate against the use of inside information\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s alleged against these men is not an offence under the law in Victoria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The magistrate, who initially admitted he had struggled to follow the defence\u2019s reasoning, adjourned proceedings about 11am, to resume on Thursday, so he could read the documents provided.<\/p>\n

\"MitchMitch Lucas, friend of ex-AFL umpire Michael Pell, leaving the Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court.Justin McManus<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Greg Buchhorn, who was also seeing the folder for the first time, will also use the break to acquaint himself with the material.<\/p>\n

Bail was extended for three co-accused men, who will return to court on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"BridgetBridget McArthur<\/a> is a sports affairs reporter at The Age, covering the intersection of sports and politics\/business\/economy\/society.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-756826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}