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Jurors unable to reach decision in Tinder Trial

The Judge has directed them to reach a unanimous decision

The jury in the trial of Gable Tostee have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict, according to news.com.au 

 

The jury retired earlier in the week, but deliberations have not been straight forward.

 

At 3pm on Tuesday the jury sent Justice John Byrne a note saying they had not reached a decision. He ordered them to return to the jury room, saying: “Experience has shown that juries can often agree if given enough time to consider and discuss the issues,” he said.

 

 

Yesterday, jurors sought clarification on four points in the trial. 

One of these questions was: what was the long metal object Tostee was carrying as he left his Gold Coast apartment following Warriena Wright’s death?

The jury also sought clarification on Tostee’s age and, most tellingly, whether Ms Wright’s state of mind at the time she fell was important, report news.com. They asked if her intoxication was something they had to consider as to whether her decision to climb over the balcony was unreasonable and irrational.

CCTV footage of Gable Tostee leaving his apartment with an unidentified metal object

Ms Wright, who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.156 — more than three times the safe driving limit — plunged to her death from Tostee’s 14th floor Gold Coast apartment after Tostee locked her on his balcony. She was attempting to climb to the balcony below when she fell.

As the jury deliberations resumed this morning, the judge told the jury that the object Tostee was carrying was irrelevant to their decision. He also urged them not to consider Tostee’s seemingly nonchalant behaviour following Ms Wright’s death as an indication that he may be guilty.

“It would be wrong for you to use any of the evidence of what he did as advancing the prosecution case for murder or manslaughter and I direct you not to,” he said.

CCTV footage showed during the trial revealed Tostee left his apartment to avoid emergency services who had raced to the scene, opting instead to walk around the Surfers Paradise for an hour, even stopping to eat a pizza.

The final verdict is expected to be handed down later today.

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