David Eastman

David Eastman
Born
David Harold Eastman
EducationCanberra Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
OccupationPublic servant
Known forTrials, wrongful conviction, and subsequent acquittal of the murder of Colin Winchester
FatherAllan Eastman
Notes

David Harold Eastman is a former public servant from Canberra, Australia. In 1995, he was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. A 2014 judicial inquiry recommended the sentence be quashed and he should be pardoned. On 22 August of the same year, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory quashed the conviction, released Eastman from prison, and ordered a retrial.

Eastman sought leave to the High Court to appeal against the decision for a retrial. His appeal was unsuccessful, and a retrial commenced on 18 June 2018. On 22 November 2018, the jury in the retrial found Eastman not guilty of murder. Eastman, who had served 19 years in custody, was awarded A$7 million in compensation in October 2019.

  1. ^ "David Eastman freed from jail, conviction quashed for murder of AFP assistant commissioner Colin Winchester". ABC News. Australia. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2019-10-14_ABC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).