South Australia's courts, one procedure at a time.
Daniel Panozzo and Sean Fewster, a court reporter with The Advertiser, take South Australian cases apart one procedure at a time, from bail arguments and mistrials to estate disputes and AI rules for the courts. The talk is blunt and plain-spoken, and it keeps returning to what the system costs victims and their families.
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Just Lawful is a criminal justice podcast built around South Australian courtrooms, co-hosted by Daniel Panozzo and Sean Fewster, a court reporter with The Advertiser. It cares less about whodunit than about what the system does next. Bail arguments, judge-alone trials, mistrials, appeals, proceeds-of-crime claims and contested estates are the raw material, and the hosts work through them in plain language. The dynamic is practical. Fewster brings the detail of what was said in court and what he chased as a reporter, while Panozzo stops him to ask what it actually means and why it matters. The clearest example is 'Still Waters Run Deep', a numbered series on the death of Helen Dansie. Its episodes take in a bail fight in which the defence argued the accused's health problems, diabetes among them, were beyond the prison health system, along with questions over passports, electronic monitoring and a mistrial. Later parts follow the Director of Public Prosecutions into a civil dispute over the estate, where the hosts puzzle out the difference between a proceeds-of-crime claim and criminal assets confiscation, and bristle at the son's own lawyers being asked to keep him in the dark. One host admits his bias against the accused and deliberately sets it aside to test the argument. Other series show the range. 'Willing & Argued' covers inheritance battles, including disputes that crossed borders and turned on which country's courts should decide. 'AI & Our Artificial Ignorance' looks at artificial intelligence in South Australian courts, from a lawyer accused of relying on AI that cited fake precedent to new court rules that Fewster reports drew harsh criticism from those who spoke to him. The sharpest worry is about self-represented litigants trusting a confident machine answer they cannot check. 'Experience, Excuses & Exceptions' follows a convicted child exploitation material offender who set up a charity for autistic adults in the justice system without disclosing his record. Here the show becomes partly a reporting diary, with Fewster reading out the questions he sent to the courts and the charity, then describing how the story landed. The hosts also relay the dismay of people in the autistic community at being stigmatised all over again. One host admits he has to stop himself getting angry on air when weighing the offender's request against what child victims still face under cross-examination. Not every episode is a case file. 'Phillip Lawrence Interview' hands the floor to a guest describing the disbelief, the tears and the strange details surrounding a death close to him, and there is also a '2025 Year In Review'. Episodes typically open on a reflective monologue and close with the line 'enjoy our work, but don't become our work', and they also go out as broadcasts on 5AA.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants to understand how South Australian courts actually handle a case, from bail to estate fights, and who prefers blunt, plain-language discussion that keeps victims in view over cold-case puzzle-solving.
What sets it apart: A working court reporter co-hosts, so episodes carry courtroom detail and sometimes the reporting process itself, down to the questions put to institutions for comment. Single cases are followed across numbered series, procedural twists included, with steady attention to how each step lands on victims and families.
Just Lawful - forget true crime, this the “reality of crime” like you've never felt it before. Co-created and co-hosted by Daniel Panozzo and The Advertiser’s chief court reporter Sean Fewster. The Just Lawful Podcast focuses on the systems, circumstances and the semantics surrounding crime all with a lens of “victim advocacy” first and foremost.
Court statistics meet a survivor's windowless interview room; you decide what the numbers leave out.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Sean Fuster's direct questions put institutional judgment and claims of redemption under uncomfortable scrutiny.
Just Lawful tracks Sean Fuster as he asks whether Ben Waters was invited to, or spoke at, events organized and operated by the Victorian courts, and whether those courts knew about the convictions and restrictions Fuster cites.
A measured look at second chances, autism, victimhood, and advocacy in the justice system.
Just Lawful frames second chances as something more demanding than goodwill, weighing honesty, disclosure, ethics, and the need to show that old patterns will not simply repeat.
A clear-eyed look at AI legal help, and the risk facing people who may not know when the answer is wrong.
AI enters the legal system here as a test of judgment, not simply a question of automation. Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster look at what can happen when people lean on a machine to draft documents, research a civil or criminal matter, or manage legal admin without enough legal…
A clear legal discussion of AI error, tribunal responsibility, and rules still taking shape.
AI is often sold as a way to make work simpler, sharper, and more reliable. This episode sits with the harder question that follows: what happens when a bad example is repeated, given authority, and put before a tribunal?
A measured conversation about AI-generated information drifting away from the facts it is meant to clarify.
Just Lawful frames artificial intelligence less as a novelty than as a question of legal reliability. The concern is practical: if AI systems keep drawing from material shaped by earlier AI searches, the trail back to the original facts can start to blur.
Defense-side scrutiny of criminal justice narratives.
ABC Audio's Theranos fraud series that also introduces its other true-crime podcasts.
LA Times reporter Christopher Goffard traces con man John Meehan's fraud, abuse, and its Bravo TV adaptation.
["Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster examine Project One in 70's public claims around Benjamin Waters and a 20 November 2025 Docklands seminar titled 'How is neurodiversity misunderstood and mistreated in the law and by psychiatry.'", "Fuster reads Project One in 70's bio, which calls Waters an autistic person, advocate and researcher with more than 20 years in Australia and the UK and says he is doing a PhD at the University of Tasmania.", "The investigation turns on emails sent to the Supreme Court of Victoria, the University of Tasmania, the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, and Project One in 70 asking whether Waters disclosed his conviction history.", "The Judicial College of Victoria says it ran a 13 May 2025 seminar with Waters and Danny Grigoriev, then admits it did not know about Mr.
Just Lawful episode 229 follows Daniel Panozzon and Sean Fuster as they investigate an email about Ben Waters and Project One in 70, an Adelaide charity with a public autism-and-justice mission.
Just Lawful episode (228) focuses on South Australian court guidelines released on January 19, 2026 for generative AI in legal work.
Just Lawful episode 227 follows South Australian AI-hallucination concerns from Justice Stephen Dolphin's public warning in the South Australian Employment Tribunal to a November 14, 2025 family-court judgment that alleged three fake cases in a custody dispute.
["Just Lawful centers on Chief Justice Chris Karakis\u2019s May 30, 2025 survey about generative AI in South Australian courts, launched as he retired after 13 years and Laura Stein took over.", "Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster frame the episode around whether lawyers, prosecutors, judges, and self-represented litigants should use AI in court work, not around deepfakes or AI crime.", "They compare South Australia\u2019s three-week survey with Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales, which already had AI guidance or a formal practice note by June 2025.", "The sharpest examples are the Port Elliot Godzilla hallucination, the risk to confidentiality and suppression orders, and New South Wales\u2019 disclosure rule for affidavits and witness statements."]
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine new civil and appellate complications surrounding Peter Rex Dancy, including unpaid work on a 400-hectare Padthaway property.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine a February 2022 Supreme Court hearing shaped by the High Court's decision to hear Peter Dancy's appeal.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine why South Australia’s DPP sought control of Peter Dancy’s assets while he sought access to his half to fund a High Court appeal.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster return to Peter Dancy's conviction for Helen Dancy's murder, with sentencing, an appeal, and a civil dispute over Helen's assets still intertwined.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the post-conviction stages in Peter Rex Dancy’s murder case involving Helen Dancy.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine suppressed evidence from Peter Rex Dancy’s judge-alone trial for the alleged murder of Helen Dancy.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the consequences of a judge-alone mistrial in the Peter Dancy case, including an estimated $325,000 in public costs and a five-month delay.
Just Lawful's "Still Waters Run Deep Pt.6" follows Sean Fuster's account of Justice David Peake publicly reprimanding him during the Peter Dancy trial over an advertiser's headline.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozal and Sean Fuster explain how court and jury views turn locations such as Veal Gardens, Port Elliot, and Adelaide High School into temporary courtrooms.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine evidence in the Helen Dancy case, including Peter Rex Dancy’s account of a pond incident and witnesses’ concerns about his calm demeanor.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the next procedural stage in Peter Dancy’s case over the 2017 death of his wife, Helen Dancy.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Peter Rex Dancy’s July 11, 2017 murder charge over Helen Dancy’s death at Adelaide’s Ville Gardens.
Just Lawful begins a case sequence about Helen Dancy, a 67-year-old wheelchair user found dead in a 1.5-metre pond at Adelaide’s Veal Gardens on April 17, 2017.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Hung Tao Liu's $50 million estate dispute over whether Australian or Chinese law governs his domicile.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the Cade Dallas probate dispute, where a trial involving a purported $30 million empire stopped after Veni Amelia’s May 4, 2017 cross-examination.
Just Lawful follows the cross-border estate dispute after Cade Dallas's 2012 death, involving his son Keanu, former partner Veni Amelia, mother Kerry Dallas, and the Bali clothing business Somewhere.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine contested wills through the “three Cs”: controversy, conciliation, and combat.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster revisit the Roche family litigation, including John Roche's $58.5 million estate, a September 2022 trial that settled two days before starting, and a later dispute over legal costs.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine probate disputes through the case of Valma Roche, whose $3.5 million estate gave each daughter $1.50 and tied jewelry to questions about diaries from 1974 to 1981.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster continue Phillip Lawrence’s account of the legal aftermath following his brother David’s death and the case involving Wendy Sue Dent.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster interview Philip Lawrence, brother of David Lawrence, about David's murder and the Lawrence family's experience beyond the courtroom record.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster continue their 203-episode celebration by revisiting John Fleming, Frank Pangelo’s June 4, 2025 parliamentary speech, and Fleming’s book Supreme Injustice, Guilty Until Not Proven Catholic?.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster celebrate reaching 200 episodes and a fifth season by reviewing the cases, interviews, and legal explainers covered from episodes 101 through 200.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster revisit the Wendy Sue Dent case, which Sean describes as nearly 10 years of interaction with South Australia Police, the DPP, multiple courts, and civil proceedings.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine four hearings held between July 4 and August 19, 2024, during which Wendy Sue Dent still had not committed to a High Court appeal.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Panozzo and Sean Fuster examine Wendy Sue Dent’s 524-day appeal delay and the Lawrence family’s prolonged wait for legal finality.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster examine the Court of Appeal's February 1, 2021 decision in Wendy Sue Dent's conviction for the alleged murder of David Lawrence.
Just Lawful's "Death Begets Dishonour Pt.5" follows the Wendy Sue Dent case from a proposed appeal and sentencing submissions to the Lawrence family's unified victim impact statement.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Wendy Sue Dent's defense case after a March 31, 2020 hearing in South Australia, including Sharon Campanella's sworn statement that Dent and David Lawrence were a devoted couple.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster examine the disrupted prosecution of Wendy Sue Dent after Justice Stanley declared a mistrial whose reason remained suppressed.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the July 22, 2019 Supreme Court trial of Wendy Sue Dent over David Lawrence's December 2, 2015 death.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Penozon and Sean Fuster introduce a case involving David Lawrence, who was found dead in Morfitt Vale on December 3, 2015, before police later treated the death as a possible murder.
Just Lawful examines the civil consequences of Brett Darren Marden’s conviction for recklessly exposing Ben Anthonitz’s family to glyphosate after Marden’s excommunication from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Finozzo and Sean Huston examine the February 25, 2015 trial of Brett Darren Marden, accused of putting glyphosate into food and drinks connected to Ben Anthonitz’s family.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Panozzo and Sean Fuster begin “Poisoned Faith” with Nigel Hunt’s March 4, 2012 report about alleged glyphosate contamination of a Jehovah’s Witness church official’s family food and drinks in the Adelaide Hills.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Gregory John McGannon's sentencing after his conviction for deliberately lit fires in the Adelaide Hills.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster reconstruct Gregory John McGannon's bail proceedings, court delays, and trial opening over seven Adelaide Hills fires.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the January 25, 2021 Cherry Gardens fire, which destroyed 2,700 hectares and 19 buildings before significant rainfall helped contain it.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Malcolm Kim Vorza's sentencing after a jury found him guilty of arson in South Australia.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Judge Michael Boylan's 2009 sentencing of Helen White, whose bushfire case produced an 18-year starting sentence, 13-year final sentence, and nine-year non-parole period.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the bail hearing and later court developments in the Helen White arson case, involving 47 alleged bushfires around Harrogate.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine why arson can carry a maximum life sentence even though the offense ranges from damaging a mailbox to deliberately setting large areas alight.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine Equal Opportunity Commissioner Jodine Carney’s report on bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment involving South Australia’s legal profession and judiciary.
Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster examine the 126-page 2024 Review of Harassment in the South Australian Legal Profession and compare it with the 2021 report.
Just Lawful hosts Daniel Pinozzo and Sean Fuster continue examining court statistics, questioning whether available figures show crime getting “crazier,” better, or worse.