CNN —
An Australian judge has dismissed a 12-member jury deliberating on a high-profile rape verdict after it was revealed a juror had investigated the allegations and brought that information to the jury.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said she had no choice but to abandon the trial in light of the jury’s conduct and scheduled a new trial for February 20, 2023.
The jury had spent five days deliberating on a charge of having sex without consent against former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann, who is accused of raping then-colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in March 2019.
Lehrmann has denied the allegations, saying no intercourse took place – consensual or otherwise.
On Thursday, McCallum told the court that a sheriff’s officer accidentally knocked a juror’s folder on the floor during the routine cleaning of the jury’s room.
“As the officer picked up the box to place it on the chair from which it had fallen, he noticed part of the front page of a scientific research paper whose source suggested the paper’s subject may be sexual assault,” McCallum said the court according to court documents.
The folder was not opened, but staff did an online search for the title of the article and found that it contained an analysis of the reasons for false sexual assault complaints and skepticism about it.
McCallum told the court she warned the jury at least 17 times not to investigate anything that wasn’t submitted to the court. The juror was questioned, but her statement that the information was not used was met with skepticism, McCallum said.
The judge noted that it would be a criminal offense in New South Wales to seek information about the accused or other matters relevant to the trial, but there is no such law in the country’s capital, where the case was heard.
“There is no such offense in the Australian Capital Territory. But there is no question that the jury’s behavior is such as to call off the trial,” she said Thursday.
“It should go without saying that this is an unexpected and unfortunate outcome in this process,” she added.
The 12-member jury retired last Wednesday to consider the verdict after a trial that began Oct. 3 and lasted nearly three weeks.
The jury told McCallum Tuesday they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision, but they sent her back and asked her to try to resolve their differences. They were recalled and released Thursday after the jury’s actions were uncovered.
Allegations of a rape at Parliament House became public in early 2021, although the attack allegedly happened after a night out in Canberra in 2019. Higgins and Lehrmann were among a group of staff who drank in bars around the capital before the two took a taxi to Parliament House, where Higgins claimed Lehrmann raped her.
Higgins contacted police shortly after the alleged incident, but did not file a formal complaint, fearing that continuing the matter could harm her career.
But in 2021 she spoke to the media and the case made headlines, not only because of the location of the alleged attack – in Parliament House – but because of Higgins’ claims she was kept from coming forward to face political consequences ahead of the 2019 election avoid. the Morrison Liberal-National Coalition won.
Lehrmann was arrested and charged last year, but his trial was delayed, in part over fears that public relations surrounding the case meant he would not get a fair hearing.
The Morrison coalition government is out of power after losing a general election to the Labor Party in May.