DPP v Dupas (Ruling No 10)
[2007] VSC 320
•20 July 2007
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
CRIMINAL DIVISION
No. 1533 of 2006
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| PETER NORRIS DUPAS |
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Ruling No. 10
JUDGE: | CUMMINS J | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF RULING: | 20 July 2007 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Dupas | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2007] VSC 320 | |
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Criminal law and procedure – murder – jury trial – video of scene – access by jury to video.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr C. Hillman SC Mr A. Lewis | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr D. Drake Mr M. Regan | Victoria Legal Aid |
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Ruling No. 10
HIS HONOUR:
I will not have the jury shown the crime scene video today. I am entirely unpersuaded about Mr Drake's concept of jury psychology. This is not a trial by 15 ostriches; it is a trial by jurors. They are entitled to have access to the evidence so that they understand it. It is wholly rational and responsible that the jury has the capacity, having heard the detailed cross-examination and evidence during the week, to have another look at the five-minute jury video; but in view of the obsession with the fact that there is a weekend I will not have the jury shown the crime scene video today. What I will do is when the jury has finished this evidence from the cemetery, I will let them see it again.
I think it is not responsible to have a crime scene video played at an opening and then again three weeks later during deliberations. The jury is entitled to have rational access to evidence, but in view of the obsession with the weekend I will not have them shown it today.
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