- R v T – Represented a young man who was charged with the murder of a 2-year-old girl during the 2021 lockdown. Lester was highly praised for his skilful cross-examination of the main crown witnesses and his lengthy and emotive closing address.
- R v BR – BR charged, along with 2 others, of murdering a drug dealer in the Hutt Valley in 2016. The 3 defendants were arrested after one of Wellington police’s longest-running investigations. After extensive legal applications were made in the Wellington High Court various disclosure applications were made which eventually led to the crown withdrawing the murder charge against BR due to issues with the disclosed police evidence.
- R v CC – CC was charged with the murder of a man after stabbing him during the course of a heated argument on the side of a street in the middle of the night. Argued successfully at trial that CC did not intend to kill the victim when he stabbed him. The jury delivered a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. CC was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for manslaughter instead of life imprisonment (the sentence that would have been imposed if he’d been found guilty of murder)
- R v E – E and another were accused of murdering a 55-year-old man by hog-tying and gagging him during the course of an aggravated robbery. Case issues included the neutralizing of the co-defendant’s statement which attempted to lay the blame at the feet of E, a careful analysis and cross-examination of the crown forensic pathologist regarding the cause of death and numerous legal arguments which centred on the definition of murder sought to be used by the crown. E was found not guilty of murder following a day’s deliberation by the jury. The acquittal of murder meant that life imprisonment with a 17-year minimum non-parole period was avoided.
- R v O – O and two others accused of the brutal murder of a young man following a fight at a party. Case issues included a close analysis of forensic and medical evidence, self-defence and an assessment of the role each accused played in the fatal beating. O was acquitted of murder following careful cross-examination of crown witnesses and a successful legal argument at the end of the crown case.
- R v V – V and brother charged with the manslaughter of their uncle following a fight during a family gathering. Case issues included assessment of medical evidence, cause of death, self-defence and the part V played in the fatal assault. Result: V was found not guilty of manslaughter.
- R v R – R charged with the murder of a young 21-year-old man by dropping a rock through a moving car’s windscreen from a motorway over a bridge. Case issues included media applications, rights of young persons charged with serious offences and R’s intention. Argued successfully before a jury that R did not foresee death ensuing as a result of his actions and that manslaughter not murder was the appropriate verdict. The jury returns a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. R was sentenced to 4 1/2 years imprisonment.
- R v OK – Approached by K’s family to review the case and represent OK on appeal against a conviction for murder and a 16-year prison term. OK charged with two others of savagely stabbing a young man to death. All three were originally convicted of murder. Successfully reviewed the case and successfully argued in the Court of Appeal that there was a serious miscarriage of justice because the jury was not properly instructed on the possibility of OK being guilty of manslaughter and not murder. Appeal result: Appeal allowed; murder conviction set aside. OK later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years compared to previous life imprisonment with 16 years minimum non-parole.