In the Irish Courts
| Published date | 01 July 1967 |
| Date | 01 July 1967 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201836703100309 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In the Irish Courts
SUPREME
COURT
IN
EIRE
A TALKATIVE JURYMAN: THE DEFENCE OF SELF-DEFENCE
The People(A.G.) v. Quinn
THE appellant in this case (1965 I.R. 366) was charged
with
the
manslaughter of one who was stated to be his close
friend.
The
two men had drinks together in a public house and
had left on amicable terms to walk home together. On
the
way,
the
accused struck
the
deceased, causing him to fall to
the
ground and fracture his skull. He alleged at
the
trial that he had
acted in self-defence, in
that
the
deceased had accused him of
theft and had struck him.
He
was found guilty on a Friday
night and was
put
back for sentence on
the
following Tuesday
morning. Before
the
Judge proceeded to sentence, however,
his attention was drawn to an incident which had occurred
during an adjournment on
the
preceding Friday. Ajuryman
had approached
the
accused and his sister and had said,
"You
should have objected to
that
jury.
Do
you know who I am?"
He
had
then
identified himselfand had been told by
the
appel-
lant's sister
that
he should not be talking to them, whereupon
he had left
the
courthouse. Counsel asked
the
Judge to arrest
judgment and to order a new trial;
but
the
Judge held
that
he
was bound by
the
verdict of
the
jury
and proceeded to sentence
the
accused to
12
months' imprisonment.
Upon
appeal to
the
Court of Criminal Appeal,
the
Court
held
that
the
trial Judge was correct in acting as he did, for
"a
trial Judge has no jurisdiction to set aside
the
verdict of a
jury
in a criminal matter".
The
Court refused to set aside
the
trial on
the
ground
that
it was unsatisfactory, for
the
cases in
which this had been done related to events occurring while a
juryman was improperly separated from his fellows, while here
the
separation had been proper.
The
Court relied on R. v.
Twiss (1918, 2
K.B.
853),
but
expressly repeated
the
warning
given in
that
case
that
it is assuredly not a"laudable practice
for jurymen to go out and talk to other persons.
They
had
much better keep their own counsel and not speak to anybody
:us
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