The South African Prosecutor in the Face of Adverse Pre-Trial Publicity

Pre-trial publicity regarding a pending criminal case, which publicity may be in the form of media coverage of the case or a prior decision given in parallel judicial proceedings arising from substantially the same facts as the criminal matter, may be adverse to an accused. Such media publicity or findings contained in the parallel judicial decision may implicate the accused in the commission of the crime on which he or she is to stand trial. The publicity may, for example, suggest that the accused is "guilty" of the crime charged, or that the accused is of bad character having had the propensity to commit the crime. Conversely, pre-trial publicity may portray the accused as innocent of any criminal wrongdoing. In other words, pre-trial publicity may prejudge the issues that are to be adjudicated on at trial. A central question that may arise in these instances is whether there is a real and substantial risk that such publicity would materially affect or prejudice the impartial adjudication of the criminal case; that is to say, whether the publicity is likely to have a biasing effect on the trial court in the adjudication process or the outcome of the trial, thereby imperilling the constitutional right to a fair trial. Another key consideration, in respect of which there is scant literature and case-law, is the question of the impact which adverse pre-trial publicity may have on the prosecutor in instituting and conducting a prosecution. Being unduly influenced by such publicity, a prosecutor may impinge upon the accused's right to a fair trial. There is also a dearth of authority on how the prosecutor is to function in the face of pre-trial publicity which may be prejudicial to the accused. This article seeks to explore these aspects vis-à-vis the prosecutor. It is posited that in an adversarial criminal justice system the same level of impartiality required of the presiding judicial officer is not required of the prosecutor, and that prosecutorial bias towards the guilt of an accused is inevitable where the prosecutor decides to institute a prosecution after studying the police case docket. Thus, exposure of the prosecutor to virulent pre-trial publicity would not be inimical to the fair disposition of the accused's trial provided that the prosecutor conducts the trial fairly and without undue prejudice to the accused and is dedicated to assisting the court in arriving at the truth. Moreover, additional knowledge and understanding of a case which a prosecutor gains from an extraneous source does not amount to bias or prejudice

Submission to Ofcom: Invitation to comment for public interest test on the proposed acquisition of Sky plc by Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.:Consultation response from the Centre for Competition Policy

The authors welcome the opportunity to respond to Ofcom’s invitation to comment on the application of the public interest test to the proposed Sky/21st Century Fox transaction. There already exists an abundance of evidence relating to Sky’s news production and distribution, as well as the prominence of its news content and that of the other news companies run by its senior management, which raise media plurality concerns in relation to this deal.1 We trust that Ofcom will be diligent and creative in assessing the risks to media plurality in terms of citizens’ access to news and information, going well beyond consumption data and perhaps revising its “share of references” metric. However, the role of media in our society is not solely the provision of news and the representation of various groups and viewpoints within that news. It is also to provide a variety of content through which our norms, values, and identities are negotiated. Therefore our contribution will focus on two other issues that we believe are crucial to the media plurality public interest test and have broader implications: (1) Sky’s position as an internet service provider (ISP), and (2) the relationship between this public interest test and the concurrent “fit and proper” test. The response affords separate consideration to (3) the scope of the ‘commitment to broadcasting standards’ public interest ground

Lace Braiding Machines for Composite Preform Manufacture

This paper is an evaluation of a modern lace braiding machine technology for suitability in the manufacture of textile composite material preforms. A brief history of bobbin lace and lace braiding machines is provided along with a discussion of the functionality of a Barmen lace braiding machine—the predecessor to the modern computerized lace braiding machine. It was found that the typical modern lace braiding machine lacked the robustness necessary to produce braided preforms using large, high-strength synthetic yarns such as carbon and aramid that are commonly found in advanced composite materials. Improvements are proposed to enable lace braiding machines to be developed for future applications

Brexit and the UK Automotive Industry

The UK's automotive industry has been one of the ‘star performers’ of the UK economy in recent years – unlike most other manufacturing sectors. Output has increased by over 60 per cent since 2010 and there has been over £8 billion worth of investment in the industry in the past five years. The industry supports some 800,000 jobs in the UK. It is seen as having benefitted from EU membership. So what might Brexit mean for the UK automotive sector, and its workers? This paper considers short-run impacts, before turning to the impact of uncertainty on foreign direct investment inflows and then the nature of a possible trading relationship. Some brief reflections on policy implications round off the paper

An analysis of pre-trial publicity and the accused's right to a fair trial : a deconstruction of the Krion case

The title of this thesis is: An analysis of pre-trial publicity and the accused’s right to a fair trial: A deconstruction of the Krion case. Based on the so-called Krion pre-trial motion for a permanent stay of prosecution (Pelser v Director of Public Prosecutions 2009 2 SACR 25 (T)), which constitutes the case study in this thesis and which application was handled by the candidate on behalf of the State (as First Respondent), this thesis principally seeks to examine the following two main questions: • Firstly, whether the right of an accused to be presumed innocent would be violated by the prior reporting in law reports of adverse findings made against such accused in other judicial proceedings stemming from the same facts as the pending criminal matter, and whether the judicial officer required to preside over the criminal trial would not be impartial in the adjudication of the case by virtue of having prior knowledge of such findings. • Secondly, whether by analogy, and indeed by extension of such theme, there would generally be a real and substantial risk that adverse pre-trial media publicity concerning a pending criminal case in South Africa would violate the accused’s right to be presumed innocent and the accused’s right to be tried before an impartial court comprised of a judge or magistrate sitting alone or with assessors duly appointed, thereby infringing the right of the accused to a fair trial which is entrenched in section 35(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Essentially, this thesis explores the question whether in general, in South Africa’s legal system, prejudicial pre-trial publicity relating to a criminal case is likely to have an adverse effect on the fairness of the accused’s trial or to have a biasing effect on the outcome of the trial, when weighed against the backdrop of the developed system of the South African accusatory trial, procedural safeguards and judicial mechanisms that have evolved to prevent just such a contingency. In this respect, this thesis also examines the constitutional right to freedom of expression and the media appertaining investigative journalism and the pre-trial reporting of a criminal case, and the balancing of such right with the accused’s right to a fair trial. This includes an examination of the sub judice rule, the crime of contempt of court ex facie curiae, pre-trial publication bans, and the test for the granting of a stay of prosecution predicated on adverse pre-trial publicity.Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.Public LawLLDUnrestricte

Umbilical cord blood-derived aldehyde dehydrogenase-expressing progenitor cells promote recovery from acute ischemic injury

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) represents a readily available source of hematopoietic and endothelial precursors at early ontogeny. Understanding the proangiogenic functions of these somatic progenitor subtypes after transplantation is integral to the development of improved cell-based therapies to treat ischemic diseases. We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to purify a rare (\u3c0.5%) population of UCB cells with high aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDHhi) activity, a conserved stem/progenitor cell function. ALDHhicells were depleted of mature monocytes and T- and B-lymphocytes and were enriched for early myeloid (CD33) and stem cell-associated (CD34, CD133, and CD117) phenotypes. Although these cells were primarily hematopoietic in origin, UCB ALDHhi cells demonstrated a proangiogenic transcription profile and were highly enriched for both multipotent myeloid and endothelial colony-forming cells in vitro. Coculture of ALDHhi cells in hanging transwells promoted the survival of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) under growth factor-free and serum-free conditions. On growth factor depleted matrigel, ALDHhicells significantly increased tube-like cord formation by HUVEC. After induction of acute unilateral hind limb ischemia by femoral artery ligation, transplantation of ALDHhi cells significantly enhanced the recovery of perfusion in ischemic limbs. Despite transient engraftment in the ischemic hind limb, early recruitment of ALDHhi cells into ischemic muscle tissue correlated with increased murine von Willebrand factor blood vessel and CD31+ capillary densities. Thus, UCB ALDHhi cells represent a readily available population of proangiogenic progenitors that promote vascular regeneration. This work provides preclinical justification for the development of therapeutic strategies to treat ischemic diseases using UCB-derived ALDH hi mixed progenitor cells. © AlphaMed Press

Expression of c-myc is not critical for cell proliferation in established human leukemia lines

BACKGROUND: A study was undertaken to resolve preliminary conflicting results on the proliferation of leukemia cells observed with different c-myc antisense oligonucleotides. RESULTS: RNase H-active, chimeric methylphosphonodiester / phosphodiester antisense oligodeoxynucleotides targeting bases 1147–1166 of c-myc mRNA downregulated c-Myc protein and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest respectively in cultures of MOLT-4 and KYO1 human leukemia cells. In contrast, an RNase H-inactive, morpholino antisense oligonucleotide analogue 28-mer, simultaneously targeting the exon 2 splice acceptor site and initiation codon, reduced c-Myc protein to barely detectable levels but did not affect cell proliferation in these or other leukemia lines. The RNase H-active oligodeoxynucleotide 20-mers contained the phosphodiester linked motif CGTTG, which as an apoptosis inducing CpG oligodeoxynucleotide 5-mer of sequence type CGNNN (N = A, G, C, or T) had potent activity against MOLT-4 cells. The 5-mer mimicked the antiproliferative effects of the 20-mer in the absence of any antisense activity against c-myc mRNA, while the latter still reduced expression of c-myc in a subline of MOLT-4 cells that had been selected for resistance to CGTTA, but in this case the oligodeoxynucleotide failed to induce apoptosis or cell cycle arrest. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the biological activity of the chimeric c-myc antisense 20-mers resulted from a non-antisense mechanism related to the CGTTG motif contained within the sequence, and not through downregulation of c-myc. Although the oncogene may have been implicated in the etiology of the original leukemias, expression of c-myc is apparently no longer required to sustain continuous cell proliferation in these culture lines

A pilot study of alterations in oxidized angiotensinogen and antioxidants in pre-eclamptic pregnancy

© 2020, The Author(s). The oxidation status of angiotensinogen (AGT) may have a critical role in pre-eclampsia. We used a validated, quantitative, mass spectrometry-based method to measure the oxidized and total AGT levels in plasma of pre-eclamptic women (n = 17), normotensive-matched controls (n = 17), and healthy non-pregnant women (n = 10). Measurements of plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and serum selenium concentrations were performed as markers of circulating antioxidant capacity. Higher proportions of oxidized AGT in plasma from pre-eclamptic women compared to matched normotensive pregnant controls (P = 0.006), whilst maintaining a similar total plasma AGT concentration were found. In the pre-eclamptic group, blood pressure were correlated with the proportion of oxidized AGT; no such correlation was seen in the normotensive pregnant women. Plasma GPx was inversely correlated with oxidized AGT, and there was an inverse association between serum selenium concentration and the proportion of oxidized AGT. This is the first time that oxidized AGT in human plasma has been linked directly to antioxidant status, providing a mechanism for the enhanced oxidative stress in pre-eclampsia. We now provide pathophysiological evidence that the conversion of the reduced form of AGT to its more active oxidized form is associated with inadequate antioxidant status and could indeed contribute to the hypertension of pre-eclampsia

Recognition of membrane sterols by polyene antifungals amphotericin B and natamycin, a 13C MAS NMR Study

The molecular action of polyene macrolides with antifungal activity, amphotericin B and natamycin, involves recognition of sterols in membranes. Physicochemical and functional studies have contributed details to understanding the interactions between amphotericin B and ergosterol and, to a lesser extent, with cholesterol. Fewer molecular details are available on interactions between natamycin with sterols. We use solid state 13C MAS NMR to characterize the impact of amphotericin B and natamycin on mixed lipid membranes of DOPC/cholesterol or DOPC/ergosterol. In cholesterol-containing membranes, amphotericin B addition resulted in marked increase in both DOPC and cholesterol 13C MAS NMR linewidth, reflecting membrane insertion and cooperative perturbation of the bilayer. By contrast, natamycin affects little either DOPC or cholesterol linewidth but attenuates cholesterol resonance intensity preferentially for sterol core with lesser impact on the chain. Ergosterol resonances, attenuated by amphotericin B, reveal specific interactions in the sterol core and chain base. Natamycin addition selectively augmented ergosterol resonances from sterol core ring one and, at the same time, from the end of the chain. This puts forward an interaction model similar to the head-to-tail model for amphotericin B/ergosterol pairing but with docking on opposite sterol faces. Low toxicity of natamycin is attributed to selective, non-cooperative sterol engagement compared to cooperative membrane perturbation by amphotericin B