O'Connell v Director of Public Prosecutions (No 4)

The appeal concerned a conviction for murder following a jury trial in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. The appellant, O'Connell, had been charged with murder, with the statutory alternative offence of manslaughter also left to the jury. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder. The appellate court, in a prior proceeding, had quashed the conviction for murder and entered a verdict of acquittal for that offence. The central dispute on this appeal was whether the indictment was fully acquitted, and consequently, whether it remained open to the appellate court to substitute a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.

The court was required to determine whether the prior quashing of the murder conviction constituted a full acquittal of all charges, thereby precluding a substituted verdict of manslaughter. This involved considering the effect of the appellate court's previous findings on the possibility of entering a verdict on the alternative offence. The court also had regard to the prosecutorial discretion and the operation of s 297 of the *Crimes Act 1900* (ACT) in the context of the appeal.

The majority of the court reasoned that the prior quashing of the murder conviction did not operate as a full acquittal of the appellant on all charges. They considered that the appellate court's findings did not preclude the entry of a substituted verdict of guilty of manslaughter. The court applied principles relating to the power of an appellate court to substitute verdicts, particularly where an alternative offence has been left to the jury.

The court ordered that a verdict of guilty be entered on the alternative offence of manslaughter and remitted the proceedings to Baker J for re-sentencing.