Gunter v The Queen

In Gunter v The Queen, the applicant, Gunter, sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia against a decision of the Supreme Court of Queensland (Court of Appeal). The dispute concerned the applicant's conviction for murder and the subsequent dismissal of his appeal by the Queensland Court of Appeal.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the Queensland Court of Appeal had erred in dismissing Gunter's appeal against his conviction. Specifically, the High Court considered whether the trial judge had made a material error in directing the jury regarding the defence of provocation, and whether the Court of Appeal had been correct in upholding that direction.

Callinan J, in chambers, considered the grounds for special leave. His Honour noted that the applicant's argument centred on the alleged misdirection concerning provocation, which required the jury to find that the provocation was such as to make an ordinary person unable to control their passions. The applicant contended that this formulation was too stringent and that the jury should have been directed to consider whether the provocation was such as to cause *him* to lose self-control, rather than an ordinary person. His Honour found no arguable error in the trial judge's direction, which reflected the established legal test for provocation in Queensland, and therefore refused special leave to appeal.