James v. The Queen
Case No.
M102/2013
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
19/03/2013 Supreme Court of Victoria (Court of Appeal) (Maxwell P, Whelan & Priest JJA)
Catchwords
Criminal law – Alternative verdicts – Appellant convicted of intentionally causing serious injury – On Appeal appellant contended that trial judge’s failure to leave to jury possible alternative verdict of intentionally causing injury (as opposed to serious injury) constituted miscarriage of justice – Court of Appeal rejected contention – Defence counsel had chosen not to leave alternative verdict open for forensic reasons – Whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that trial judge not bound to leave the alternative verdict open for consideration by jury – Whether Court of Appeal erred in holding that trial judge’s duty to leave to jury for its consideration lesser alternative verdicts, that are realistically, or fairly and practically open, does not transcend forensic decision of trial counsel.
Documents
16/08/2013 Hearing (SLA, Melbourne)
30/08/2013 Notice of appeal
20/09/2013 Written submissions (Appellant)
20/09/2013 Chronology (Appellant)
26/09/2013 Amended Written submissions (Appellant)
11/10/2013 Written submissions (Respondent)
25/10/2013 Reply
07/11/2013 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)
05/03/2014 Judgment (Judgment summary)