R v Mills

[2023] QDC 134

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Mills [2023] QDC 134

PARTIES:

THE KING

(Prosecution)

v
ZACHARY ALEXANDER MILLS

(Defendant)

FILE NO/S:

2324/2022

DIVISION:

Criminal

PROCEEDING:

Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

17 July 2023

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

17 July 2023

JUDGES:

Rackemann DCJ

ORDER:

The application to discharge the jury is dismissed. 

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – PROCEDURE – JURIES – DISCHARGE AND EXCUSING FROM ATTENDANCE – PREJUDICE TO ACCUSED – where the Defence made an application under section 48 of the Jury Act to discharge all persons selected to serve as jurors on the basis that the Prosecutor’s use of the power to stand-by jurors resulted in a jury composition that may cause the trial to be, or appear to be, unfair – whether the way that the stand-by power had been exercised resulted in a jury of a composition that may cause the trial to be, or appear to be, unfair.

COUNSEL:

F Anoozer for the Crown.
C Eberhardt KC for the Defendant.

SOLICITORS:

Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Crown.
Jasper Fogerty for the Defendant.

1. An application has been made under section 48 of the Jury Act to discharge all persons selected to serve as jurors on the basis that the Prosecutor’s use of the power to stand-by jurors selected to serve has resulted in a jury composition that may cause the trial to be, or appear to be, unfair.  The basis of the application is that the exercise of the power to stand-by a juror has been exercised in such a way that, as a result, the jury does not have any white male over the age of 40, such potential jurors, as were selected, answering that description having been stood by.  The Prosecutor, for his part, denied that was the result of any specific tactic on his part. 

2. When one looks at the jury composition, it is one which is diverse in terms of gender, age and background.  I note that the Prosecutor stood by one person of colour.  I note also that the accused here is a young man, not a person over the age of 40.  I do not think that a jury needs to comprise every possible demographic in order to be, or to be seen to be, fair and I do not regard the way in which the stand-by power has been exercised in this case, as resulting in a jury of a composition that may cause the trial to be, or appear to be, unfair.  The application is dismissed.