The so-called Urewera Four have lost their appeals against conviction and sentence.
In a decision released this afternoon, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey.
Tuhoe activists Iti and Kemara were jailed for two and a half years in May after being found guilty in the High Court at Auckland of firearms offences relating to the 2007 Urewera raids.
Signer and Bailey were each sentenced to nine months of home detention after they were found guilty of unlawful possession of firearms.
The convictions were challenged on the grounds that:
* Pre-trial publicity meant they could not have a fair trial
* The trial judge's directions on their liability to the jury was incorrect
* Other aspects of the judge's directions were inadequate
* And, the Crown's case on the charge of participating in an organised criminal group was not an offence.
But the Court of Appeal found that pre-trial publicity did not create the risk of an unfair trial because there was a significant gap between the publicity and the trial date.
It also found that the trial judge correctly directed the jury that the effect of the Arms Act was that defendants had to show it was more likely than not that they had a lawful purpose for possessing the firearms.
"The other aspects of the trial judge's directions were appropriate and did not contain any material omissions," it found.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of participating in an organised criminal group.
The Court of Appeal found the jury's inability to reach a verdict on that charge could not retrospectively affect the analysis which led to the evidence supporting that charge being admitted in the first place.
The sentence of the four was appealed on the grounds that the judge sentenced them on the factual basis inconsistent with the jury's inability to agree with the participating in an organised criminal group charge.
The factual findings reached by the trial judge were open to him and the sentences imposed were within range.
