KEY POINTS:
The Supreme Court is to decide whether police can supply "vetted" jury lists to the Crown, enabling it to challenge potential jurors because of their criminal histories.
If the court decides police can supply the lists, it will then look at whether the list should also be made available to the accused.
The court will give the issue urgency, as it "potentially concerns every criminal jury trial", Justice John McGrath said in a decision released yesterday.
The court has granted leave to a woman found guilty in a drugs case to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling that police can lawfully access the national criminal records database to provide a Crown Solicitor with any criminal history of those on the jury list.
The appeal court, by a majority, also held that the Crown was neither required nor permitted to disclose to the defence "non-disqualifying" criminal history information about potential jurors.
It could only do so when there was a likelihood that jurors with a criminal history might have an adverse predisposition towards the defence in a particular case.
The decision of the Supreme Court is unusual in that whatever it decides, it will not change the conviction and sentence for the appellant, Deborah Gordon-Smith.
Justice McGrath said because the trial judge's ruling was favourable to Gordon-Smith and jury selection proceeded in accordance with his ruling, the appeal against the Court of Appeal's adverse judgment could not be of any practical benefit to her.
- NZPA
