MEDIA
NOTABLE CASES
Steven has been involved in a number of high-profile criminal cases throughout New Zealand.
These cases have attracted significant media and public attention. Some of the most recent and notable cases are outlined below.
Rebels Māngere boss Mace Raymond Sitope has all charges dismissed - 8 June 2023
Rebels Māngere boss Mace Raymond Sitope, also known as Ray Elise, has had all his charges dismissed, including one for arson.
Sitope was charged amid an explosive turf war between the gang chapter he leads and the local King Cobras.
Elise, originally from Auckland, was formerly the president of the Rebels chapter in Victoria before he was deported from Australia in 2020 as a 501 deportee.
Sitope’s lawyer Steven Lack successfully sought for the charges to be dismissed, which police confirmed on Thursday.
New Zealand's top pool player says he's vindicated as charges dropped - 30 April 2023
New Zealand’s greatest-ever pool player says his reputation has been damaged, but he always knew he’d be proven innocent after dishonesty charges against him were dropped this week.
Edwards said he’d always expected acquittal. “I am innocent of the things I have been charged with. It is disappointing that it has taken nearly three and a half years to reach this point, but I am glad that I have finally been cleared of any wrongdoing. I look forward to moving on with my life and continuing to represent New Zealand on the world stage in the sport that I love.”
Edwards’ lawyer, Steven Lack, said he would likely pursue the DIA for costs.
Bastion Pt cocaine drama: Russian sailor acquitted, but Polish men guilty - 10 May 2021
Two Polish men have been found guilty of importing cocaine but a Russian sailor cleared his name as jurors reached verdicts today in the Bastion Pt cocaine trial.
Sailor Aleksandr Cherushev was expected to leave custody for the first time in nearly two years, after jurors found him not guilty of importing or supplying cocaine.
Cherushev's defence lawyers Ron Mansfield and Steven Lack said the sailor had no interest in drugs and was a career-driven man who wanted to help his family.
Cherushev has a wife and child in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory on the Baltic Sea northeast of Poland.
At 10.46am today, after the verdicts were delivered, Justice Tracey Walker told Cherushev he could leave the dock.
Trial of man accused of murdering Denver Chance begins in Auckland - 10 March 2021
Jay Christopher Lingman has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Auckland man Denver Chance in 2019.
Lingman is accused of fatally shooting Chance in February 2019. The Crown argues he shot Chance three times in the head before storing the body in a chest freezer.
Lingman's defence lawyer Steven Lack said both men were drug dealers. He said Chance had a history of drug offending and would import drugs and sell them to Lingman, who would then sell them on further. The defence said Chance believed Lingman was ripping him off and he was angry.
Lack said Chance was armed with a shotgun when he came to see Lingman. He said the accused took a rifle and went around the side of the house to either escape or try to reason with him. "Lingman made another attempt to try and reason with Chance to resolve the situation. But in that split second, Chance raised the shotgun as if to aim it towards him. Lingman fired a volley of shots in Chance's direction, some striking Chance, others hitting the front door or the area around the front door.” Lack said Lingman only fired his weapon in self-defence. "What's critical is that Lingman was left with no choice in that moment but to fire his weapon. If he didn't fire his weapon, then there can be no doubt, I suggest, that he would have been killed instantly if he had been struck by a shot from the shotgun that Chance was holding," he said.
Comancheros Trial: charges dropped against media personality - 1 October 2020
Charges have been dismissed against a media personality in a high-profile trial where he had stood in the dock alongside a gang leader.
The president of the NZ chapter of the Comancheros, Pasilika Naufahu, started his trial standing alongside fellow gang member Connor Clausen, accountant Wiwini Hakaraia, as well as a media personality and a woman - who both have name suppression.
The media personality had been accused of participating in an organised criminal group and two charges of money laundering.
Justice Graham Lang said there was "insufficient evidence" to consider them.
The judge told the media personality he was "free to leave the dock" adding to the man's lawyer, Steven Lack, "that brings your participation in the trial to an end".
Alfred Keating Trial: 736 images deleted from hidden Washington embassy toilet camera - 12 April 2019
Some 736 images were deleted from a hidden camera found inside a bathroom at the New Zealand embassy in Washington, a court has heard.
But the first video file police recovered from the camera reveals images of a person wearing blue latex gloves hiding the "black box" inside the unisex bathroom's radiator.
New Zealand's former Assistant Chief of Navy is the man accused of planting the covert filming device in the diplomatic building's bathroom during July 2017.
Former Commodore Alfred (Fred) Keating was serving as the senior defence attache to the United States at the time and was stationed in the American capital.
Brothers found not guilty of New Zealand's first human trafficking charges - 20 December 2015
The brothers at the centre of New Zealand's first human trafficking trial have been found not guilty of the lead charges.
However, one of the brothers and another man have been found guilty of the lesser charges of making false statements to Immigration New Zealand officials.
The jury of eight women and four men delivered their verdicts in the High Court at Nelson on Sunday morning. They had been deliberating since Friday afternoon.
Teen girls' murder trial: Manslaughter verdict for girl who stabbed man - 11 October 2018
One of two teenaged girls involved in the fatal stabbing of a man in a Hamilton street has been found guilty of his manslaughter.
Her co-accused was found not guilty.
The 16-year-old and a 14-year-old have been standing trial in the High Court in Hamilton, charged with murdering Norman Kingi, 54, who died following the incident in Rānui Street, Hamilton, about 11.30pm on Friday, July 28 last year.