Jury Reform
In the previous blogs, ‘The Maguire Trial – Part 1,’ a sting operation in 1950 effected by a political party, unveiled the forgery of ballot papers in the Queensland State Election. To better understand the selection process and subsequently chosen all-male juries for the Maguire trials to younger readers, we delve into history.
Suffragists campaigned for jury rights for all Australian women since 1902. Queensland was the first state to grant women the right to serve as jurors in 1923, but the system required that women volunteer with the local Sheriff. By 1929, only thirteen women had registered, though none ever served as a juror.
Were these women prejudiced by attitudes of the time? Were they exposed to peremptory challenges when they entered the courtroom, a practice that continues to this day? Or could the reason be as simple as those courtrooms of the Victorian era and early 20th century, were built in a time when no one conceived that woman could possibly be interested in legal adjudication, and therefore were built with no appropriate facilities. Simply put, there were no female toilets.
But these obstacles would not thwart Mrs Nellie Bishop in 1941.
Reforming Queensland’s jury system
On 14 September 1995, the Jury Bill 1995 was introduced to the Queensland Legislative Assembly by the then Labor Government and was passed on November 9, 1995. The Act repealed and replaced the Jury Act 1929 in its entirety and amended the District Courts Act 1967. The Queensland’s Oaths Act 1867 was also significantly amended by providing that the oath to be taken by jurors includes a requirement that they keep their deliberations secret.
Provisions for juries in criminal trials which were contained in Queensland’s old Criminal Code were repealed by the new Criminal Code of 1995 and the redrafted provisions were placed in the Jury Act 1995. As they were complementary, the new Jury Act and the Criminal Code Act came into force on the same date.
Questionable impartiality
Detective Bardwell was given reason to question the impartiality of jurors on the first trial of Bernard Maguire. Normally equipment loaned to the Court was handed over by a court official to the Crown Prosecutor, who would return the items to Forensics when the trial ended. In this case it was magnifying glasses loaned to jurors to help with their deliberations.
On the day following the end of trial, the foreman of the jury personally returned the items to the Forensics Department at the CIB on George Street. Naturally Bardwell was curious about the numbers ‘for’ and ‘against’ acquittal and decided to ask. To his surprise the foreman told him the following.
The jury returned to the jury room at the first court adjournment (at morning tea) and before any evidence had been given at the trial, two members on the jury panel announced to the remaining ten members, ‘You can please yourselves but as far as we’re concerned Maguire is not guilty.’
An impartial juror
Who is an impartial juror?
‘Impartial jurors are those who are willing and able to consider the evidence presented at trial without preconceived opinions about the defendant’s guilt or innocence, to apply the governing law as instructed by the trial judge, and to deliberate in good faith to render a legally and factually justifiable verdict.’
It’s obvious from the example above, that at least two jurors on the three trials of Bernard Maguire came to Court unwilling to listen to the evidence. This negates the juror’s oath.
Queensland Police Museum acknowledges ‘No Stone Unturned’, a collection of works by former Detective Inspector Les Bardwell, who preferred to be known as a field forensic scientist. Les believed that it was important to have first-hand contact with the aftermath of crime and violence. This story was written by Museum Assistant Debra Austin.
The Police Museum is open 9 am to 4 pm Monday to Thursday and 10 am to 3 pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb – Nov) and is located on the Ground Flood of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Email contact: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – The Maguire Trial Part 3” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode