Carter v the Queen M18/2000

In *Carter v The Queen*, the High Court of Australia considered an appeal by the applicant, Carter, against his conviction for murder. The dispute arose from the applicant's assertion that the trial judge had erred in law by failing to direct the jury on the defence of provocation.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the evidence presented at trial was capable of supporting a finding that the applicant had acted under provocation, thereby entitling him to a direction on that defence. This required the Court to assess whether there was any evidence, however slight, that the deceased's conduct might have caused the applicant to lose self-control and act in a way that was a response to that conduct.

McHugh and Gummow JJ, in their joint judgment, analysed the evidence concerning the deceased's alleged taunts and the applicant's state of mind. They affirmed the principle that a judge must direct a jury on a defence if there is any evidence, however tenuous, upon which a jury might find the elements of that defence to be established. However, they found that the evidence in this case did not, when viewed in its entirety, suggest that the deceased's conduct was capable of constituting a provocation sufficient to reduce the charge of murder to manslaughter. The alleged taunts were not of a nature that could reasonably be considered to have induced a sudden or temporary loss of self-control.

The appeal was dismissed.