JURY FAILS TO AGREE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26630, 28 November 1947, Page 6

JURY FAILS TO AGREE

Murder Charge Against Mrs Haskell

NEW TRIAL ORDERED PJV. AUCKLAND, Nov. 27. The jury failed to reach a verdict at the close of the trial on a charge of murder of Mrs Pansy Louise Frances Haskell, aged 49, a domestic, in the Supreme Court to-day. The tense and crowded courtroom, which had awaited the result for. more than six hours, heard the foreman announce that there was no prospect of agreement and a new trial was ordered by Mr Justice Callan.

With 43 witnesses heard, over 100,000 words of evidence recorded and addresses of counsel completed, only the judge’s summing up remained when the hearing entered its ninth day this morning. The spectators knew it was the critical day and the first of them were waiting outside the court at 8 o'clock and an hour before the commencement at 10 o’clock a thick queue extended from the doors across the cloistered porch and into the grounds. Finally, dignity was abandoned for weight and ability in the scramble for the best places in the public galleries.. Warned previously by police officials of the strict need for silence, there was scarcely a movement or a whisper while the judge spoke for a little over two hours. For the first hour of the jury’s retirement a few spectators were prepared to sacrifice hard-won places in the galleries for a rest or a cigarette outside, but when the jurors left ~for lunch at an hotel, the court was cleared and' closed. Both men and women immediately ran to form queues at the doorways in readiness for the re-open-ing at two o’clock. Then they stood or sat patiently until 5.25 p.m., when the jury returned to have “ their recollection refreshed ” of the evidence given by Mrs Lavinia Margaret Stubbs, one of the two witnesses who claimed to have seen the accused near the scene of the murder. No Agreement His Honor spent 20 minutes in reading the evidence in full and the jury again retired, to return for a second .time at 6.20 p.m. The accused remained standing in the dock while the registrar, Mr E. G. Rhodes, asked the foreman if they had been able to agree upon their verdict. His reply was, “No, Sir.” A murmur and a sigh throughout the galleries was checked by a stern “ silence ” from the court crier. His Honor formally asked whether he was to assume from the lapse of time that there was no real prospect of agreement and the foreman answered, “I think so, your Honor.” The judge immediately discharged the jury, reminding them to collect their remuneration for the 11 days spent from their homes and directing them to be relieved from all jury service for seven years. “ I think y'ou have earned it,” his honor remarked. After his Honor had granted an application for a new trial by the Crown prosecutor, Mr V. R. Meredith, the senior defence counsel, Mr M. Robinson, said he presumed that the re-trial would not take place until the February sessions. There was only a matter of 23 days left in the present year. His Honor said he supposed that the strict position was that this was primarily a matter for the prosecution to decide what it desired. There were often reasons of which he was not aware, but when it was known what was desired it would still remain for the-court to determine whether they could be given effect to. All he cared to say was that at this date of the year and with the demands on judges, the uncertainty of what judges would be available in Auckland and the difficulty of summoning jurors, there might be grave difficulties about having a trial this year. Accused Remains Calm

The accused, who had stood_ calmly throughout the closing phase of the trial, was escorted down the stairway below the dock as the court adjourned. The jurors met outside the registrar's office to exchange handshakes after an enforced but apparently happy friendship over. 11 days, and the spectators, many of whom had eaten nothing since an early breakfast, ran to trams, buses and motor cars.