A trial judge who receives a jury request to rehear defence counsel's closing address should accede to that request rather than directing the jury to first rehear evidence and then reconsider whether they still need the address. Directing the jury in this way creates a real possibility that the jury will be influenced to withdraw the request, potentially leaving them with an imperfect understanding of the defence case. The principle from R v JX — that unanswered jury questions can cause a miscarriage when they evidence confusion or uncertainty — extends to requests to rehear closing addresses, not only questions of law.
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