Lloyd v The Queen

This matter came before the High Court of Australia concerning an application by Mr A.J. Lloyd for the issue of subpoenas against two television broadcasters. Mr Lloyd represented himself and sought to obtain broadcast material relevant to his conviction and sentencing. He intended to use this material to support an argument that a fair retrial would be unlikely due to pre-existing publicity, and that an acquittal should be entered instead of a retrial.

The primary legal issue before the Court was the procedural appropriateness of Mr Lloyd's application for subpoenas in the context of an application for special leave to appeal. His Honour noted that the application for special leave to appeal had not yet been determined, and therefore, the substantive appeal had not been heard. This raised the question of whether the application for subpoenas was premature, as the Court would typically only consider such matters once an appeal was properly before it.

His Honour acknowledged that the Court could, if special leave were granted and the appeal allowed, order a retrial or remit the matter for determination to the Court of Criminal Appeal of Western Australia. The Court indicated that it was unlikely to grant special leave and allow the appeal in the same week unless by consent of the parties. Consequently, His Honour proposed to stand the matter over to allow Mr Lloyd an opportunity to discuss the procedural mechanism for determining the outstanding issues with the Director of Public Prosecutions.