Citation: R v Smith [No 3] [2011] NSWSC 728
Court: Supreme Court of New South Wales
Date: 30 June 2011
Judge(s): Buddin J
Background
The accused stood trial for the murder of a man whose body was discovered in a carpark off Smart Street, Fairfield, on 3 June 1995. The deceased had suffered fatal head injuries, with alcohol toxicity identified as a contributing factor. His shoes and wallet were missing from the scene.
Despite a lengthy police investigation, the accused was not arrested until June 2009, after a DNA profile entered onto the national database in 2008 matched DNA material found inside a pair of Adidas running shoes discovered near the body. The deceased's blood was also found on those shoes. A DNA profile matching the accused was additionally found on the rear right pocket of the jeans the deceased was wearing at the time of death.
The Crown's case was that the accused killed the deceased in the course of robbing him of his shoes and wallet, and that the Adidas shoes had been discarded by the accused after he realised the deceased's blood had transferred onto them. The Crown also alleged that, some hours before the body was discovered, the accused had attempted to steal the deceased's wallet during an altercation witnessed by two of the deceased's companions.
Legal Issues
- Whether, at the close of the Crown case, there was sufficient evidence capable of sustaining a verdict of guilty such that the matter should be left to the jury.
- Whether a trial judge may direct a verdict of acquittal in a circumstantial evidence case on the basis that the Crown had not negated all reasonable inferences consistent with the accused's innocence.
Decision
Buddin J refused the application for a directed verdict of acquittal. His Honour applied the principles established in Doney v The Queen (1990) 171 CLR 207, which confirmed that a directed verdict of not guilty is available only where there is a defect in the evidence such that, taken at its highest, it is incapable of supporting a verdict of guilty. Tenuous, vague, or inherently weak evidence does not by itself justify removing the matter from the jury.
In a circumstantial case, it is not sufficient to ground a directed verdict that a reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence can be formulated. This principle, confirmed in R v JMR (1991) 57 A Crim R 39, meant that the accused's application, which rested substantially on the construction of an alternative innocent explanation, was bound to fail.
His Honour characterised the defence submissions as the formulation of a reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence, placing the application squarely within the JMR principle. Even setting that characterisation aside, Buddin J held that the combination of Crown evidence, including the DNA findings, eyewitness descriptions, the proximity in time between the earlier altercation and the death, the absence of a blood trail from The Crescent to the carpark, and the severity of the injuries, was sufficient to warrant the matter proceeding to the jury.
Orders Made
No orders were made in this decision.
Key Takeaways
- A directed verdict of acquittal is available only where evidence, taken at its highest, contains a defect that renders it incapable of supporting a guilty verdict. Evidence that is tenuous, vague, or inherently weak does not automatically justify withdrawal of the case from the jury.
- In circumstantial evidence cases, the ability to formulate a reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence does not, of itself, entitle an accused to a directed verdict. The relevant question is whether the evidence is capable of supporting a conviction, not whether the Crown has negated every innocent inference.
- Where multiple strands of circumstantial evidence, considered in combination, are capable of supporting a guilty verdict, the case must be left to the jury for determination.
- Cold case prosecutions relying on DNA evidence entered onto national databases years after the offence can satisfy the evidential threshold required to proceed to verdict, at least at the directed verdict stage.
- The Supreme Court affirmed that the principles in Doney v The Queen and R v JMR remain the settled framework governing directed verdict applications in New South Wales.
Legislation and Cases Referenced
Cases:
- Doney v The Queen (1990) 171 CLR 207
- R v R (1989) 18 NSWLR 74
- R v JMR (1991) 57 A Crim R 39
- R v JM (2010) 202 A Crim R 465
- R v PL [2009] NSWCCA 256
- R v El Masri (No 2) [2010] NSWSC 1327
Legislation: No specific legislation was cited in the judgment.