An Auckland lawyer convicted of stealing nearly $200,000 from prominent law firms has appealed her prison sentence.
Emma Jane Garnett was last year sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to six counts of false accounting and two of using a document at two Auckland laws firms from 2000.
Defence counsel Barry Hart today told the Court of Appeal in Wellington that Garnett should have been granted home detention.
She had no memory of the offending and may have been suffering from a dissociative disorder at the time, he said.
She was also going through a difficult pregnancy during the court proceedings.
Before sentencing, Auckland District Court Judge Anne Kiernan said there was no evidence of diminished responsibility.
Mr Hart today said new psychological assessments showed that was not the case.
The court should also consider the effect prison would have on Garnett's mental health and her relationship with her children, he said.
"It ought to be enough for home detention," he said.
Crown prosecutor Nick Chisnall said the new assessments did not advance Garnett's case and her personal circumstances did not warrant any further sentence reduction.
She was given a 25 percent discount at sentencing to "comfortably encapsulate" her situation, he said.
Garnett had taken advantage of her privileged position, committed serious white-collar crime and brought the legal profession into disrepute, he said.
Mr Chisnall said Garnett still denied responsibility and had not paid any reparation.
Justices William Young, Lester Chisholm and John Priestley reserved their decision.
