Mr Lehrmann and a Jury’s Integrity
The Jury (1861) by John Morgan. Wikimedia Commons
The ACT recently passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 [1] to crack down on juror misconduct following a mistrial in the high-profile Bruce Lehrmann case of 2022. [2] The proposed bill sought to protect the integrity of jury trials after a juror on the Lehrmann case conducted independent academic research and brought this material into the jury room. [3] This occurred after Chief Justice Lucy McCallum had warned the jury (on 17 occasions) to avoid conducting their own research. [4] The juror’s misconduct caused a mistrial of the case. [5] However, this was not illegal in the ACT at that time, and so McCallum CJ could not sanction the juror. [6]
The ACT has now proposed laws to criminalise similar misconduct under the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2023. [7] If legislated, the bill will amend the Juries Act 1967 [8] to insert the offence of an improper inquiry by a juror about matters relevant to the trial. [9] This amendment will permit up to 2 years imprisonment for jurors who have made an unauthorised inquiry into a trial. [10] This includes internet searches, bringing external research into the jury room, asking others questions, conducting experiments, and asking others to make an inquiry on the juror’s behalf. [11]
Furthermore, ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has proposed an additional amendment bill in response to the findings of the board of inquiry into the Lehrmann mistrial. [12] The board of inquiry found that former Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, attempted to prevent the disclosure of a report to the defence team. [13] This report claimed that police had attempted to pressure Drumgold into not prosecuting Lehrmann, possibly due to a close relationship between senior police officers and the defence. [14] In response, Rattenbury proposed legislative amendments which require the prosecution to disclose all available evidence to uphold the integrity of the ACT’s criminal law system. [15]
Attorney-General Rattenbury supports the proposed changes to the Juries Act 1967 [16] regarding juror misconduct. He has stated that these amendments will be helpful in preventing retrials and hung juries, thereby strengthening and improving the efficiency of the ACT’s judicial system. [17] According to Rattenbury, it is incredibly problematic for jurors to bring outside research into the jury room as such information has not been accepted by the court and the parties to the case have not examined the information. [18] This can risk the integrity of the jury and threaten the defendant’s access to a fair trial. [19] Similarly, Michael Kukulies-Smith, a chair of the ACT’s Law Society, affirmed the importance of clearly outlining the obligations of jurors and the consequences of their misconduct. [20] He argued that criminalising juror misconduct will fortify the integrity of trials, especially regarding high-profile matters. [21]
Evidently, these proposed amendments highlight the importance of upholding the integrity of jurors and trials in ensuring that our judicial system remains robust. The Lehrmann mistrial shone light onto the gaps in the ACT’s legislation and demonstrated how these gaps could undermine our courts. The passage of the proposed bill aims to eliminate these gaps, showing other states and territories the importance of quickly evolving the law as issues arise.
[1] Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (ACT) (‘Amendment Bill 2023’).
[2] Elizabeth Byrne, ‘ACT to introduce new penalties for jury misconduct, like that which ended high-profile rape trial last year’, ABC News (online, 26 October 2023) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-26/act-penalties-jury-misconduct-like-ended-recent-rape-trial/103023422> (‘ACT to introduce new penalties for jury misconduct’).
[3] Lenore Taylor, ‘Juror in Bruce Lehrmann trial ‘deeply sorry’ for causing mistrial’, The Guardian (online, 11 May 2023) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/16/juror-in-bruce-lehrmann-trial-deeply-sorry-for-causing-mistrial>.
[4] ACT to introduce new penalties for jury misconduct (n 2).
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Amendment Bill 2023 (n 1).
[8] Juries Act 1967 (ACT) (‘Juries Act 1967’).
[9] Amendment Bill 2023 (n 1).
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Elizabeth Byrne, ‘Inquiry report into abandoned prosecution of Bruce Lehrmann to be handed to ACT government’, ABC News (online, 31 July 2023) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-31/bruce-lehrmann-prosecution-inquiry-report-handed-act-government/102664238>
[15] ACT government changes jury laws (n 13).
[16] Juries Act 1967 (n 8).
[17] Lottie Twyford, ‘ACT government changes jury laws after Bruce Lehrmann mistrial exposes gaps’, ABC News (online, 10 April 2024) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-10/act-jury-laws-bruce-lehrmann-prosecution/103691924> (‘ACT government changes jury laws’).
[18] ACT to introduce new penalties for jury misconduct (n 2).
[19] Ibid.
[20] ACT government changes jury laws (n 13).
[21] Ibid.
This article was originally published under the title ‘A Jury’s Integrity and the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (ACT) in The Brief Edition 2, 2024 — Ceci n’est pas une loi.