RETRIALS after a hung jury could be reintroduced in Jersey to ensure the “unfortunate outcome” of the L’Ecume II trial is not repeated, the Home Affairs Minister has said.
Deputy Mary Le Hegarat has lodged sweeping proposals to overhaul Jersey’s criminal justice system in the wake of the L’Ecume II case, which saw each defendant discharged from one of two counts.
Lodged yesterday, her proposals are explicitly driven by the fallout from the maritime incident, which claimed the lives of skipper Michael Michieli and crew members, Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat in December 2022.
Deputy Le Hegarat makes clear that the “considerable impetus” for reform is driven by the maritime collision trial last year.
In the L’Ecume II case, Commodore Goodwill second officer Lewis Carr was convicted of conduct endangering ships, structures and people at sea after a four-week trial last year.
But the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the more serious manslaughter charge, resulting in a ‘hung jury’.
In 2018, an amendment to the Criminal Procedure (Jersey) Law removed the capacity to retry such cases.
“This left the possibility open that a jury could be ‘hung’, resulting in neither a guilty nor not guilty verdict, but removed the capacity to resolve that uncertainty by trying the matter again,” explained Deputy Le Hegarat.
“At the time of the original debate, the question of a hung jury was a theoretical one, which might occur at some point in future.
“Today, we have seen the significant confusion, expense, and distress that is caused by a trial ending in this uncertain manner.”
Treating a hung jury as equivalent to an acquittal, she added, is to “equate indecision with exoneration”, she said, adding: “Ultimately, it must be recognised that deadlock is not a verdict.”
Under the proposed new law, the Attorney General would have 14 days after a jury is discharged to decide whether to seek a retrial.
Only one retrial would be permitted. If the second jury also fails to reach a verdict, the defendant must be declared not guilty.
The minister rejected the suggestion that retrials go against double-jeopardy principles.
A hung jury, she stressed, “does not result in any verdict, so it is in no way an acquittal”.
Retrials in such circumstances are “consistent with the international standard across common law jurisdictions”, she added.
Deputy Le Hegarat also addressed concerns raised in 2018 – when the capacity to retry cases following a hung jury was removed – about media coverage prejudicing second juries.
She argued that Jersey’s courts already operate amid intense reporting and that jurors are trusted to follow judicial directions, noting that serious cases elsewhere have proceeded fairly despite widespread publicity.
The minister also dismissed cost as an insufficient reason to block reform, warning that leaving cases unresolved risks undermining public confidence and compounding victims’ anguish.
“It is difficult to ask the public to place faith in a justice system that has a pathway for jurors to communicate that they are not sure if a person is guilty, but which then allows nothing to be done to clarify that,” she said.
“It must also be devastating for a victim to hear that the person who harmed them is not ‘guilty’, but neither are they not ‘not guilty’, but something in between, and there can never be any resolution to that.”
The minister’s package of amendments also includes procedural changes to jury management, bail decisions, and reduction of the Superior Number of the Royal Court from five Jurats to three.
States Members are due to debate the proposals next month.
