A MAN found guilty of helping dump the body of murdered mother Carly McBride and trying to protect her killer has fronted the state's highest court for an appeal.
A panel of three judges in the NSW Criminal Court of Appeal (CCA) heard submissions from defence and Crown barristers in the day-long hearing of James Anthony Cunneen on Monday.
Cunneen, now 32, was last year found guilty by a jury of being an accessory after the fact to murder, over the brutal death of Ms McBride in 2014.
Ms McBride's skeletal remains were found in bushland at Owens Gap in August, 2016.
Sayle Kenneth Newson was convicted of murdering Ms McBride on the afternoon of September 30 that year after picking her up in Muswellbrook.
The court heard the Crown case had essentially been that on that afternoon, Cunneen had assisted Newson by helping to dispose of Ms McBride's body and give Newson an alibi.
Cunneen's legal team filed several grounds of appeal, including that a conviction certificate that showed Newson had been found guilty of murdering Ms McBride should not have been admissible in Cunneen's trial.
His defence barrister argued Cunneen could either be acquitted, or face a new trial, depending on which, if any, grounds of appeal the CCA found made out.
He also applied for leave to appeal on the basis that Cunneen's lawyers at his trial had made decisions which had been harmful to his case and had been "forensically indefensible".
He said there were times when his lawyer should have "intervened", including when phone intercepts were played that he claimed included nothing that could have assisted Newson to escape arrest, trial or conviction.
Cunneen and Newson faced separate criminal trials, and Cunneen's defence barrister told the appeal hearing that evidence that was admissible in Newson's trial should not have been admissible in Cunneen's.
One ground of the appeal was that the guilty verdict against Cunneen was unreasonable.
He submitted the court should have "reasonable doubt' about whether Newson committed the murder based on evidence that was admissible in Cunneen's trial.
"There is in fact one aspect of the Crown case that has a glaring flaw to it and that is when and where and how did this murder take place," he said.
"We know that Ms McBride had no contact with anyone after about 2 o'clock on the 30th, no telephone contact, no bank activity - we don't know when she died and we don't know when her body was placed where it was found."
The Crown argued that the evidence as a whole could be looked at to establish guilt.
The CCA's judgment will be handed down at a later date.
At his sentencing in November last year, Judge Phillip Mahoney said he was satisfied that Cunneen had assisted Newson to dispose of Ms McBride's body, knowing he had murdered her in a "fit of jealous rage", and that Cunneen had told lies to police to assist Newson and remained loyal to him.
Cunneen was jailed for a maximum of seven-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of four years.
He is currently eligible for parole in 2026, while Newson is not eligible for release until 2038.
The Newcastle Herald revealed earlier this year that lawyers for Newson were arguing the 46-year-old should be acquitted or a new trial ordered due to what they claim were errors.
