R v Czajkowski

In the case of R v Czajkowski, the appellant was on trial for a criminal offence before a jury. The trial was conducted in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The appellant challenged the conviction on the basis that the jury was not impartial and had not discharged its task impartially. The primary issue before the court was whether the trial judge should have discharged the jury after a written communication from the foreperson indicated that some unspecified members of the jury had expressed fear of bias and prejudgment. The court also needed to determine whether any direction given by the trial judge to the jury overcame any prejudice that might have arisen from the communication, and whether there was a reasonable apprehension that the jury had not discharged its task impartially.

The court held that the trial judge was required to consider whether there was a reasonable apprehension that the jury had not discharged its task impartially. In this case, the jury had been subjected to a written communication indicating that some unspecified members of the jury had expressed fear of bias and prejudgment. The court found that this was sufficient to raise a reasonable apprehension that the jury had not discharged its task impartially. The court also held that the direction given by the trial judge did not overcome any prejudice that might have arisen from the communication. The court concluded that the trial judge should have discharged the jury and ordered a new trial.

The court made orders setting aside the conviction and ordering a new trial. The court held that the trial judge should have discharged the jury when the written communication from the foreperson was brought to his attention. The court found that the direction given by the trial judge did not overcome any prejudice that might have arisen from the communication. The court concluded that there was a reasonable apprehension that the jury had not discharged its task impartially, and that the trial judge should have discharged the jury and ordered a new trial.