Jury Act needs a ‘beef up’

LAWYERS have called for the Queensland Jury Act to be reviewed to include warnings about social media use, after a juror in the high-profile Gable Tostee murder trial almost derailed the case by posting about it on Instagram.

Gold Coast lawyer and Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts called for legislation governing jurors in criminal trials to be amended to bring it into line with modern technology.

Mr Potts said the Act, which was passed in 1995, was drafted before social media existed.

“The Jury Act may need to be reviewed to keep up with changes in technology,” he said. “The Act was passed in 1995 when there were no smartphones and social media.”

Mr Potts said jurors who posted on social media during deliberations not only risked causing a mistrial but could put themselves in physical danger.

“Jurors are warned they must not reveal jury deliberations and by posting on social media talking about a case, there is an extraordinary danger the jury may identify themselves,” he said.

“In a high-profile case, identification could also cause others to threaten them or cause them to be persuaded.

“It has the potential to endanger themselves or their families.”

Civil Liberties Council vicepresident Terry O’Gorman said future jurors would benefit from stronger direction by judges about the use of social media.

“Judges need to beef up their instructions about the use of social media,” he said.

“Judges should make it clear this is not a request. It is a direction, and jurors can face criminal charges or end up in jail for contempt of court.”

Mr Potts and Mr O’Gorman agreed the jury system continued to be the most effective way to try people facing serious charges.

“There is nothing wrong with the system,” Mr O’Gorman said. “It’s the lack of enforcement judges give not to use social media.

Mr Potts said juries had a hard job and did it well.

Gable Tostee, 30, was found not guilty of the murder or manslaughter of New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright, who fell 14 floors from the Gold Coast man’s Surfers Paradise apartment on August 8, 2014.

Before the verdict was handed down in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday, Justice John Byrne was alerted to a series of social media posts by a juror on Instagram.

After tendering more than 50 pages of comments to the court in which the juror had complained about being on a jury and revealed she was sitting on the panel for a murder trial, Mr Tostee’s legal team applied to have the jury discharged.

The application was dismissed but the juror was anonymously slammed by the judge for the “disappointing” behaviour.

The juror has not been charged with contempt of court.