Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has announced the appointment of three acting local court judges, including the lead prosecutor for the upcoming Matt Wright trial, but would not say if the appointments, that also include one of Mr Wright’s previous defence lawyers, would delay the high-profile case, while also refusing to comment on one of the surprise new judges’ connections to the Chief Minister and her husband.

Ms Boothby further inexplicably said she was not aware that long-serving government lawyer and her staffer Craig Smyth was separately appointed as Acting Associate Justice of the Supreme Court this week.

The three new acting local court judges, whom Ms Boothby said were appointed in the absence of judges currently on leave and to help with increased case loads, are Sally Ozolins, Giles O’Brien-Hartcher and current lead public prosecutor Steven Ledek.

The NT Independent understands from multiple sources in the local legal fraternity that Mr Ledek’s name was not on any shortlist of potential judges, but was surprisingly appointed regardless. It is also widely known in the Darwin legal community that Mr Ledek is a close personal friend of Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro and her husband Sam Burke.

Ms Boothby said “I don’t know anything about that”, when asked how Mr Ledek, who recently had a major conviction for a violent act causing death overturned on appeal due in part to his error during the trial, could be propelled from not appearing on a list of potential judges to suddenly being appointed amid his friendship with Mr Burke and Ms Finocchiaro.

“I’m not going to go into all of that,” Ms Boothby said. “I don’t know anything about that and I’m not going to entertain that.”

Asked specifically about the overturned conviction due to Mr Ledek’s conduct in court and whether that concerned her, Ms Boothby said she would not “go into all of those details”.

“I actually don’t have that information at hand,” she said.

“There was a very thorough selection process done, like there always is, to put acting judges in place and that [selection] panel went through that process and then those recommendations came up to me, which then I could have a look into them, and I did that.

“I’m more than satisfied with the deep experience that these judges have and the ability they’re going to bring to our court system to ensure offenders are dealt with.”

Ms Finocchiaro declined to comment when asked in emailed questions about her family’s friendship with Mr Ledek and if that played any role in his appointment or how it was managed.

Mr Ledek was also the lead prosecutor on the high-profile Matt Wright trial, but Ms Boothby said she could not state whether his new role would delay the start of the trial while another prosecutor is presumably brought in.

“Sometimes there’s delays, sometimes there’s not,” she said. “But the process will happen, and there will be a prosecutor as there will be a defence, as there will be a judge for all of the cases that are before the Supreme Court and the local court.”

The courts have been under pressure recently while struggling to cope with a reported increase in arrests, with a Darwin Local Court judge earlier this week stating remand prisoners could be released because legal paperwork outlining the allegations against them had not been completed.

The number of prisoners in the Territory hit a record of 2,628 on Monday, which the Finocchiaro Government said was the result of its new “tough on crime” policies.

Ms Boothby insisted on Friday that the government was managing the court and corrections systems, despite concerns from local lawyers that the record prisoner numbers were choking the justice system.

“We need to be monitoring this closely, which is exactly what I’ve been doing,” Ms Boothby said. “This is not a set-and-forget, this is a constant, forever evolving, moving, [system] … We will do everything we can to ensure that there are less offenders out on our streets.”

Head of litigation appointed Acting Associate Justice of Supreme Court

In another surprise announcement that raised eyebrows in the local legal fraternity, long-serving government lawyer and the director of litigation for the NT Government Craig Smyth has been appointed Acting Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

The announcement was made yesterday and appeared to catch the Attorney-General unaware that a senior public servant would be leaving his current job in her department.

“I don’t have any details of these specifics with different names and I’m not going to entertain those questions,” Ms Boothby said.

Ms Finocchiaro’s office later said Mr Smyth was appointed by Chief Justice Michael Grant and that Cabinet was not involved in that process.

Mr Smyth has also been the director of legal services in the Department of Attorney-General. While he has no trial experience, it is expected the new role will see him manage civil proceedings at the Supreme Court.