Lawyers for David Harold Eastman have fought back against a challenge that could stop the inquiry into his murder conviction in its tracks, sparking a fresh battle that could end up in the High Court.
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An inquiry is currently looking at the conviction of Eastman for the slaying of the ACT's police chief, Colin Stanley Winchester, outside his neighbour's home in 1989.
That inquiry has already heard a substantial amount of evidence, the majority of which has related to questions of whether Eastman's fitness to plead and to stand trial were properly considered by the court.
It is currently adjourned until late January next year.
But before the summer break, the Director of Public Prosecutions launched an application for judicial review of two crucial decisions that have helped create and shape the inquiry.
The DPP challenged the legality of a decision by Justice Shane Marshall to order the inquiry in August last year, and a decision by acting Justice Brian Martin last month not to limit its scope.
The full bench of the ACT Supreme Court began to hear the DPP's challenge on Monday morning.
But lawyers for David Eastman hit back early, arguing there is a legal barrier that prevents the judicial review of a decision to order an inquiry.
That has raised an issue of constitutional law, which will be dealt with separately to the DPP's current challenge.
It requires that notices be sent out to the attorneys of states, territories, and the Commonwealth, to see whether they will intervene.
The matter could also be removed to the High Court for consideration.
The full bench of the ACT Supreme Court is continuing to hear the DPP's evidence and arguments on its challenge to the decisions of Justice Marshall and Acting Justice Martin on Monday.
The DPP spent much of Monday morning going through a chronology of the case's journey, in all its various incarnations, through the courts.