States unite to defend ‘no body, no parole’ laws from Queensland double murderer’s bid for release
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Rodney Cherry, jailed for murdering two women, one of whom was never found, is appealing to the high court after being denied parole. A convicted double murderer’s attempt to secure release from custody via the high court has prompted several state governments to intervene to protect “no body, no parole” laws.
Rodney Michael Cherry, 62, was found guilty in 2002 of killing his 35-year-old wife Annette Cherry and 18-year-old stepdaughter Kira Guise at Roma in rural Queensland and sentenced to life in prison. Guise’s body has never been found and Cherry has maintained his innocence.
Convicted killers in Queensland cannot be paroled if through their act or omission a victim’s body has not been found. The Parole Board in July 2023 refused Cherry’s application for release and stated he “has not given satisfactory cooperation in the investigation of the homicide offence to identify his victim’s location”.
Cherry filed written submissions for an appeal to the high court in October 2024, claiming the “no body, no parole” legislation “impermissibly grants judicial power” to the Queensland government. The appeal argued the laws were “unlawfully empowering [the government] to alter the punishment imposed by the supreme court” of a minimum 20 years’ imprisonment without parole.
