Shane Drumgold,the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions,is reportedly ready to use his prosecutorial discretion to announce that the charges will be dropped against former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann and the trial will not proceed,according to
Bruce Lehrmann leaves the ACT Supreme Court after his trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.Rhett Wyman
This masthead has independently confirmed that Drumgold is expected to announce on Friday morning that the second trial will not proceed.
Lehrmann was accused of raping Higgins in the office of their then-boss Linda Reynolds in Parliament House in the early hours of March 23,2019. He faced one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
He has always maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty at the first trial,which was cut short in October after 12 days of hearing evidence and submissions in the ACT Supreme Court and five days of deliberations,because of juror misconduct.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said at the time that she had disbanded the jury after learning one member had undertaken their own research,which they brought into the jury room.
Brittany Higgins addresses the media outside the ACT Supreme Court after the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann was aborted due to juror misconduct in October.Rhett Wyman
The juror misconduct was discovered during routine tidying of the jury room by three sheriff’s officers,with one of the officers accidentally bumping a juror’s document folder onto the floor and then noticing part of the title page of an academic research paper which suggested the topic of the paper might be sexual assault.
McCallum described it as an “unexpected and unfortunate outcome” to the three-week trial,and said:“It is beyond question that the conduct of the juror is such as to abort the trial. It may be that no harm has been done,but it’s not a risk I can take.”
The second trial had been pencilled in for early in 2023.
Drumgold’s office released a short statement to the media on Thursday afternoon.
“I wish to advise that the Director of Public Prosecutions,Shane Drumgold SC,will be making a media statement tomorrow morning (Friday 2 December 2022) at 10.00am,regarding the matter of R v Lehrmann,” the email said.
“Mr Drumgold will read a short pre-prepared statement and will not be taking questions.”
The concern over Higgins’ health,backed by independent medical experts,is reportedly central to the decision not to proceed.
Drumgold will reportedly state that the decision not to proceed with the trial has been taken because it is not in the public interest.
The ACT government is looking at legal changes that could make it easier for witnesses in sexual assault cases to give evidence in the event of a retrial.
The territory’s Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury is considering allowing recorded evidence from a first trial to be used in a subsequent trial in a bid to stop witnesses from being required to give in-person evidence a second time.
Drumgold wrote to Rattenbury about the omission in current laws just days after Lehrmann’s first trial was aborted.
He said there appears no rational reason to treat differently witnesses who give evidence in court compared with via video-link.
“In other words,there appears to be a structural cost to a witness choosing to give evidence in a courtroom,” he wrote.
“The recording of evidence ensures that vulnerable witnesses are not re-traumatised in a subsequent proceeding,where possible.”
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