Chapter 8 - Juries (cases)

Question 1

Which case established the independence of the jury?

Answer 1

Bushell’s case (1670)

Question 2

What are the facts in Bushell’s case?

Answer 2

Jurors refused to convict Quaker activists and the judge fined them and committed them to prison for their refusal to convict

Question 3

What is the modern case that establishes the independence of the jury?

Answer 3

R v McKenna (1960)

Question 4

What was the facts in R v McKenna?

Answer 4

The judge threatened the jurors that if they did not return a verdict in 10 minutes then they would be locked up all night and the D’s conviction was quashed because of this interference

Question 5

What are the two cases involved in police checks?

Answer 5

1. R v Crown Court at Sheffield, ex parte Brownlow (1980)

2. R v Mason(1980)

Question 6

What were the facts in R v Crown Court at Sheffield, ex parte Brownlow?

Answer 6

The defendant was a police officer and the defence sought permission to get the jury panel for convictions and the judge gave permission but the Court of Appeal held that this was a serious invasion of privacy

Question 7

What were the facts in R v Mason?

Answer 7

The Chief Constable for Northamptonshire had been allowing widespread use of unauthorised vetting of criminal records and the Court of Appeal approved of this as the police were only doing their normal duty of preventing crime

Question 8

What case is associated with wider background checks?

Answer 8

The ABC trial of 1978

Question 9

What were the facts of the ABC trial?

Answer 9

Two journalists and a soldier were charged with collecting secret information and it was discovered the jury had been vetted for their loyalty and a new trial was ordered and the A-G laid down guidelines

Question 10

What case is associated with to the array?

Answer 10

R v Ford (1989)

Question 11

What was held in the case of R v Ford?

Answer 11

A challenge to the array was used in this case and it was held that if the jury was chosen in a random manner then it could not be challenged simply because it was not multi-racial

Question 12

Which case is associated with jury equity?

Answer 12

Ponting’s case (1984)

Question 13

What were the facts in Ponting’s case?

Answer 13

A civil servant was charged with leaking information on the sinking of a ship and he pleaded not guilty because his actions had been in the public interest and the jury refused to convict him

Question 14

What two cases are associated with perverse decisions?

Answer 14

1. R v Randle and Pottle (1991)

2. R v Kronlid and others (1996)

Question 15

What were the facts in the case of R v Randle and Pottle?

Answer 15

D’s were charged with helping a spy escape from prison and flee Russian and their prosecution did not occur until 25 years after the escape, the jury acquitted them possibly as a protest over the time lapse between the offence and the prosecution

Question 16

What were the facts in R v Kronlid and others?

Answer 16

The D’s caused £1.5 million damage to a plane and they pleaded not guilty because they were preventing the plane from being sent to Indonesia where it would have been used in attacks against the people of East Timor and the jury acquitted them

Question 17

What were the two cases associated with secrecy?

Answer 17

1. R v Mirza (2004)

2. R v Connor and Rollock (2004)

Question 18

What were the facts in the case of R v Mirza?

Answer 18

The D was a Pakistani who had an interpreter to help him in the trial and he was convicted on a 10:2 majority because they thought the use of an interpreter was a ploy and they ignored the judges directions

Question 19

What were the facts in the case of R v Connor and Rollock?

Answer 19

A juror wrote that while many jurors thought it was one or other of the D’s who had committed the stabbing, they should convict both to teach them a lesson and the House of Lords held that:

(1) confidentiality was essential to the proper functioning of the jury process
(2) there was merit in finality
(3) jurors had to be protected from harassment

Question 20

What case is associated with the complete repudiation of the oath?

Answer 20

R v Young (Stephen) (1995)

Question 21

What were the facts in R v Young (Stephen)?

Answer 21

The D was charged with the murder of 2 people and the jury had to stay at a hotel overnight and at the hotel 4 of the jurors held a seance using a ouija board to try and contact the dead victims and returned a guilty verdict and the C of A quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial

Question 22

What case is associated with the exception of extraneous materials?

Answer 22

R v Karakaya (2005)

Question 23

What were the facts in R v Karakaya?

Answer 23

The D was accused of rape and a juror did an internet search and showed the rest of the jury and returned a verdict of guilty but his conviction was quashed and a retrial was ordered

Question 24

What case is associated with racial bias?

Answer 24

Sander v United Kingdom (2000)

Question 25

What were the facts in Sander v United Kingdom?

Answer 25

One juror wrote a note raising concern that another juror had been making openly racist remarks and jokes and it was held that the judge should have discharged the jury as there was an obvious risk of racial bias and a breach of Article 6

Question 26

What case is associated with media influence?

Answer 26

R v Taylor and Taylor (1993)

Question 27

What were the facts in R v Taylor and Taylor?

Answer 27

2 sisters were charged with murder and some newspapers published still photos taken from a video which gave false impressions of what was happening and they were convicted and the judge gave leave to appeal because of the possible influence of the photos and the C of A quashed the convictions

Question 28

What two cases are associated with jury tampering?

Answer 28

1. R v Twomey and others (2009)

2. KS v R (2010)

Question 29

What were the facts in R v Twomey and others?

Answer 29

The D’s were charged with various offences connected to a large robbery and 3 previous trials had collapsed because of jury tampering and the C of A ordered a retrial should take place without a jury

Question 30

What were the facts in KS v R?

Answer 30

The D was in trial for fraud and was not until the 10th trial that jury tampering occurred and this happened because jurors and members of the public who wished to smoke were directed to the same area and during this one the the D’s friends approached a juror and the C of a refused an application for trial by judge alone