Convicted garda killer Aaron Brady has begun his appeal against his conviction for the capital murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe.
The 32-year-old of New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, is serving a life sentence with a 40-year minimum term.
He was found guilty in 2020 of the murder of Det Garda Donohoe at the Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Co Louth on 25 January 2013.
Detective Garda Donohoe was on a cash escort when he was ambushed by a five-man gang and shot dead. The gang fled with €7,000 in cash.
Brady claimed this morning that his trial was unfair because it went ahead during the Covid-19 pandemic.
His senior counsel Michael O'Higgins told the three judges that the jury should not have been working in an environment "where there is a real threat to their existence".
"You are asking people to deliberate in a situation in which they might die," he said.
He submitted that whether they volunteered or were willing to do it, "if you’re having a trial with such a serious consequence, people should not be entitled to work".
Mr O’Higgins also submitted that it is "plausible that juries were worried about dying, about other people dying and to come in and make a decision of this mammoth, it is likely it deteriorated the quality of their decision".
He argued therefore that the trial judge was wrong to direct the trial to continue.
However, senior counsel for the State described Brady’s application as "subjective" "personal" and "highly speculative".
Brendan Grehan said the judge consulted, made inquiries of the jury and made it clear that nobody was compelled to serve.
"There is not an iota of evidence that the jury felt compelled," he said.
"The very people whom this is directed at, the jury, made it sufficiently clear they were happy to proceed."
He also pointed out that this was an expanded jury of 15, one of whom was excused after he indicated he had a Covid-19 concern not for himself but for someone he lived with.
The court was also told that the appeal before Presiding Judge John Edwards, Ms Justice Tara Burns and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy would also be grounded on defence complaints regarding other witnesses.
The case is expected to continue until next Tuesday.
Brady is in court for the hearing. His trial was the longest murder case in Irish legal history, lasting 122 court days.
He was found guilty of the murder of Det Garda Donohoe by an 11 to one majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court in August 2020.
The father-of-one was sentenced to the mandatory term for murder of life imprisonment in October 2020.
As he had been found guilty of murdering a garda acting in accordance with his duty, the trial judge ordered that he serve a minimum of 40 years.
