Hetold the appeal judges that Mr Lavelle's family felt aggrieved that nobody had been convicted and that they had been badly served by their legal team.
The minister has told MPs that he is visiting judges, magistrates and probation officers to promote these alternatives to prison for some criminals expecting sentences of less than a year.
On Monday, Mr Berlusconi's lawyers toldjudges in Milan that he was not able to attend his trial for a second day because he had uveitis, an inflammation of the middle layer of the eye.
Earlier Lord McCluskey told MSPs he found it "deeply offensive" that the Scotland Act said "we can not trust the Scottish judges" to decide which cases go to the Supreme Court.