The 'high degree of need' test from Boland for discharging a whole jury continues to apply under the Juries Act 2000 (Vic), ss 43 and 44. An accomplice warning is not required for the evidence of an accessory after the fact, even where the accessory may have a motive to implicate the accused falsely. A trial judge who directs the jury that there is 'no evidence' that a third party committed the offence does not thereby withdraw from the jury the hypothesis that the third party may have been responsible, provided the direction is given in the context of distinguishing evidence from assertion and the alternative hypothesis is otherwise put before the jury.
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