Smith v. The Queen

Lower Court Judgment

7/11/2014 Supreme Court of Queensland (Court of Appeal) (Holmes JA, Phillippides and Dalton JJ )

[2014] QCA 277

Catchwords

Jury – Verdicts and findings – Majority verdict – s 59A Jury Act 1995 (Q) - Where the appellant was convicted of one count of rape on a majority verdict – Where the jury had disclosed its voting pattern to the judge before the judge exercised the discretionary power pursuant to s 59A – Where the judge did not disclose the voting pattern to counsel – Whether a trial judge can elect not to disclose a jury communication which discloses the numerical state of its deliberations and still exercise further discretions concerning the jury in the trial.

Short Particulars