R v Lace

The Queensland Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against conviction for murder and refused leave to appeal against sentence. On the jury discharge issue, the Court held that the trial judge's direction to the jury following a newspaper article revealing the appellant's prior overturned conviction was adequate and discharge was not required, applying R v Glennon. On the directions issue, the Court held that the trial judge's summing up, read as a whole, made clear that intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm was a critical issue for the jury and did not amount to misdirection, including the characterisation of a recorded conversation as 'totally inconsistent' with the defence of accident. On the sentencing issue concerning pre-sentence custody, the Court held the trial judge did not err in declining to declare the period between 30 January 2001 and 4 July 2001 as time already served, as the appellant was serving a concurrent sentence for breaking and entering during that period.