A trial judge must explicitly consider and determine whether the period of jury deliberation is reasonable having regard to the nature and complexity of the proceedings before accepting a majority verdict under s 55F(2)(a) of the Jury Act 1977 (NSW); the mere expiry of the minimum eight-hour period is insufficient. A Black (perseverance) direction should ordinarily be given before any majority verdict direction. A direction that commences by informing the jury that a majority verdict may become available, with only a brief addendum about jurors being equals, is not a proper perseverance direction. Defence counsel may not make submissions to the jury about the absence of evidence that was excluded at the defence's request or not called by agreement, as such submissions are misleading.
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