Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse, has been behind bars for just over a year—a sixth of the sentence handed to him for crimes perpetrated against two choristers in Melbourne in the 1990s. Over the past two days his lawyers have been arguing for his acquittal through Australia’s High Court. They wanted to convince the court that the jury at his trial was so spellbound by the testimony of his victim (only one survives) that it neglected evidence which raised reasonable doubt. The Crown retorted that the Victorian Court of Appeal has already considered this, yet still determined in August that Cardinal Pell was guilty (by a majority of 2-1). After hearing both arguments, the High Court reserved its decision on whether to grant him “special leave to appeal”. The seven judges asked for further written submissions from both sides within two days.