He said the Queensland Government introduced double jeopardy legislation in 2014. "Otherwise we would be seeing people retried over and over again." "The general principle in law is that people cannot be tried twice for the same offence and there is a sensible reason for it," Mr Potts said.
Legal expert Bill Potts, who has 36 years' experience in criminal law, said it was an "extraordinarily unusual" step. This is the first time double jeopardy provisions have been exercised in Queensland. Police will now have to appeal to the Supreme Court to allow a re-trial.īecause of legal restrictions preventing the identity of the person subject of the application to be publicised, police would not reveal any further details, except to say he had already faced court once over the alleged murder and been acquitted. The man was arrested today, triggering a "legal mechanism" whereby an application will be made to the court for an acquitted person to be retried for the offence.
Queensland's double jeopardy provisions are being used for the first time after a man was charged in relation to a murder in the 1980s.