KEY POINTS:
David Bain's legal team are making last ditch attempts to get more legal aid resources and fear that a planned murder retrial will be delayed if their request is declined.
In May this year the Privy Council in London overturned Bain's 1995 murder convictions for killing his father, his mother, two sisters and his brother in Dunedin.
He was jailed for life in 1995 with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years.
His legal team wants legal aid for an extended defence team, including extra lawyers, offices and administration and a private detective in preparation for the planned May 2008 retrial.
Joe Karam, Michael Reed QC, Helen Cull QC and lawyer Paul Morten temporarily withdrew from the case last week saying there was an imbalance in resources compared with the heavily resourced Crown legal team.
The Otago Daily Times reported that Mr Karam, the driving force behind the bid to try and prove Bain's innocence, was doubtful about his team's chances of getting the response they sought from Legal Services.
In anticipation they had also begun preparing a paper for submission to the Legal Aid Review Panel and failing that they would take the matter to the High Court.
Mr Reed said those processes would almost certainly delay the start of a retrial, which would be disappointing.
Previous requests for extra legal aid have been rejected.
- NZPA
