Three Million: Had Pell Been a Simple Priest, He Would Still Be in Jail
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As a famous cardinal, Pell had wealthy supporters. Had he been a simple priest, he would never have had the money to prove his innocence – although Australian law claims that everybody is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Pell still has a “significant” amount of his legal bill to pay, despite having walked free more than a year ago. From the state of Victoria, he received a miserable $390,000 in costs after the hung jury of the first County Court trial. His legal team had applied for $800,000.
None of Pell’s legal defence was covered by the Church. Lawyer Peter Kelso, a specialist in abuse cases, told Weekend Australian (July 3) that the large sum spent on defending Cardinal Pell showed that celebrities and the wealthy had a better opportunity to fight false accusations.
“When you have the money you can afford a full-on defence,” he said. “That is, you can afford not only the lawyers but their team behind them … whereas the ordinary punter accused of anything can’t afford that.”
Picture: George Pell, © Mazur, CC BY-NC-SA, #newsUsjlrnfhao
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