WRONG VERDICT.
JURY'S FAUX PAS. FOREMAN CAUSES STIR. (By Air.) BRISBANE, March 4. A dismissed jury had to be reassembled at the Supreme Court when the foreman suddenly remembered he had announced the wrong verdict. Two jurymen had to l>e chased two blocks through the city. Others were collected from the passages and stairs of the Court building. The foreman had announced a verdict of guilty in a case in which William James Stuart, 61, labourer, was charged with a serious offence against a boy. After the jurymen had withdrawn, suddenly the foreman appeared unexpectedly between the side of the dock and the end of the jury box. He cried out: "Not guilty. Not guilty was our verdict. A unanimous verdict of not guilty." After the jury had been hurriedly assembled, Mr. Justice Mansfield said: "It seems rather an irregular procedure, but I do not see why the prisoner should be deprived of the benefit of a verdict through an irregularity of that sort." The Crown Prosecutor (Mr. J. A. Sheehy): I take no objection. It seems to have been a slip of the tongue. Stuart waf. discharged.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19410308.2.37
Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 56, 8 March 1941, Page 8
Word Count
188WRONG VERDICT. Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 56, 8 March 1941, Page 8
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Auckland Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.
Log in