Judith Potter
Encyclopedia
Judith Marjorie Potter, CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, (born 1942) is a High Court
High Court of New Zealand
The High Court of New Zealand is a superior court of New Zealand. It was established in 1841 and known as the Supreme Court of New Zealand until 1980....

 Judge in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 in 1997.

Justice Potter graduated from the University of Auckland
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...

 in 1965, and went on to become a senior partner at law firm, Kensington Swan. She is the former President of the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 District Law Society and the New Zealand Law Society.

In 2007 she made headlines when she jailed website editor Vince Siemer for his continual breaches of a High Court injunction.

In 2008, in a ruling which was branded "astonishing" by the government-funded Legal Services Agency, Justice Potter was again in the news for aborting an attempted murder trial because she was due to go on a South American trip.

In September 2009, she again made headlines for a "shocking" sentence in which she gave a 28 year old man a short three-year jail term for the beating to death of a 78 year old man in a road rage
Road rage
Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions...

incident.

In June 2010, she again made headlines for a "shocking" sentence in which she gave Isaiah Tai, a 21-year-old orchard worker from Opotiki a short two-year and ten-months jail term for the killing of a Bay of Plenty regional councillor and school principal Hawea Vercoe. The sentence reportedly 'made a mockery of a young man's life.'

Sources

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