Now there's a surprise!

Lawyer (or should that be soon-to-be former lawyer?) Davina Murray has been found guilty; Stuff reports:

Lawyer Davina Murray has been found guilty of smuggling contraband to murderer and rapist Liam Reid.
Murray, a former Maori Party political candidate, appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning where Judge Russell Collins delivered his verdict.
Murray, who has said she believed Reid was innocent, was accused of supplying the prisoner with contraband items - cigarettes and an iPhone - at Mt Eden Prison on October 7, 2011.
Reid, 41, is serving a 26-year minimum non-parole life sentence for the 2007 rape and murder of Deaf Christchurch woman Emma Agnew and the rape and attempted murder of a Dunedin student a few days later.
The judge said it was a "simple case" - either Murray brought the items to Reid or prison guards conspired to make it look so.
There was no evidence that it was a conspiracy between the guards, the judge said.
He said Reid's evidence was "completely implausible" and found Murray guilty.
During the defended hearing the court was read text messages sent by Murray in which she said of Reid: "I hate that I'm in love with him but I'm scared to lose him.
"He makes me laugh. He makes me cry. He makes me feel beautiful. I love him like I have never loved anyone before. If he doesn't get out do I just shrug my shoulders and say, 'oh well'."
She later texted: "He's the best kisser I've ever kissed" and he was "seriously the best - it's like he just gets me".
Another text to a friend mentioned marrying Reid and discussed "smuggling two witnesses into jail to be witnesses at my wedding".
The last text read to the court was unclear in its meaning: "No we haven't but come very close. Damn prison guards."

Ms Murray hasn't given up her fight however; read on:

Murray signalled that she would be seeking a discharge without conviction.
The judge remanded her on bail to September 6 when the discharge without conviction application will be heard. 

We doubt that her application will succeed. Murray fell foul of Judge Collins repeatedly throughout her trial, and the condemnation of Reid's evidence as "completely implausible" will doubtless reflect on her as well. The learned Judge's decision today is no surprise whatsoever.

Liam Reid is a very dangerous man. Just days after his brutality towards Emma Agnew he raped a Dunedin woman who was fortunate to escape with her life. New Zealand will be a safer place if he is never released from prison.

Quite what an apparently intelligent and articulate woman such as Davina Murray saw in Reid is anyone's guess. But if her professional judgment is as bad as her taste in men, she will have a very limited future in law. She will doubtless face a Law Society hearing to determine her fitness to practice the law, given that she cannot abide by it.