JUDGE WARNS JURY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22111, 5 June 1937, Page 16

JUDGE WARNS JURY

♦ CONFIDENCE NOT MAINTAINED DISCUSSIONS ON VERDICT KNOWN SECOND DISAGREEMENT IN WEST COAST TRIAL (THE TRESS Special Service.| GREYMOUTH, June 4. ‘ For the second time a jury was unable to agree on a verdict in the case in which Maurice Moore, aged 65, was charged before the Hon. Mr Justice Northcroft, in the Supreme Court at Greymouth with wilfully damaging by explosives at Arnold River, near Stillwater, a six-roomed house valued at £SOO, the property of James Been Brosnan. Formal application for a new trial was made by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr F. A. Kitchingham, but the application was adjourned to enable the Crown Law Office to consider the matter, and his Honour said that further application could be made for a new hearing. Mr J. W. Hannan represented accused. When discharging the jury his Honour said: “May I issue a warning. It has come to my notice that the confidence of the last jury has not been maintained and that it had been communicated outside the jury room which of the jurors took one view and which took another view. You must understand that what takes place in the jury room is strictly confidential, and under no circumstances must it be disclosed.” Mr Kitchingham said that under general instructions he had been directed to inquire whether a third trial was desirable in the interests of justice. His Honour said that that was a matter for the Crown. If the Crown applied for a new trial an order would be given and then a conference could be held with the Crown Law Office to see whether it was intended to proceed. Mr Kitchingham then made formal application for a new trial His Honour, in addressing the jury, after the addresses by the Crown Prosecutor and Mr Hannan, said he would hesitate to think that a man proved to be guilty of an offence could be exonerated and extolled by a jury through'a misplaced Sense of sympathy. It would make people ashamed to be West Coasters if such an offence were to be tolerated on the West Coast. He said that the jury’s task was simply to say whether, on the evidence, the Crown had proved its case.