R v Morris
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 24 January 1991 |
| Date | 24 January 1991 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Jury - admission by juror - judge's discretion
When, during the trial of a defendant charged with shoplifting from Marks & Spencer, a juror disclosed to the court that she was employed by that company, the judge had a discretion to decide whether or not that juror should be discharged.
The proper test for him to apply was the same as had been held to be appropriate for justices to apply, namely to decide whether there would be the appearance of bias by asking himself whether a reasonable and fair-minded observer, fully informed of all the relevant facts, would have a reasonable suspicion that a fair trial was not possible: see R v Liverpool City Justices, Ex parte ToppingWLR ([1983] 1 WLR 119).
The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Farquharson, Mr Justice Garland and Mr Justice Ognall) so stated on December 10 when allowing the appeal of Cynthia Morris and quashing her conviction on October 17, 1990 at Guildford Crown Court (Judge Rubin and a jury) of theft, for which she had been sentenced to three months imprisonment.
LORD JUSTICE...
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Ming et Al v R
...itself, be sufficient. 98 Accepting that the principle involved is that the appearance of bias rather than actual bias is sufficient — see R. v. Morris (1991) 93 Cr. App. R. 102 - we are not prepared to interfere with the discretion which was exercised by the judge to continue with the tria......