A jury in the Brisbane Supreme Court has found Gable Tostee not guilty of murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter of New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright.
The decision came after four days of jury deliberations and the possibility of a re-trial after a juror posted information about the trial on Instagram..
Tristram Clayton talks to Phil Vine about the not guilty verdict.
No evidence was hidden from the jury that decided Gable Tostee's fate, his Kiwi lawyer says.
Former Palmerston North crown prosecutor Saul Holt was Tostee's lawyer in his successful defence of a murder charge laid over the death of Wellington woman, Warriena Wright.
She fell from his 14th floor GoldCoast balcony apartment during a Tinder date in August 2014.
A Queensland jury acquitted the 30-year-old of murder yesterday, a dramatic climax to a high profile trial that was almost derailed at the last moment when it was revealed a juror had posted about the trial on Instagram.
Holt also confirmed to Radio New Zealand the defence made the application for a mistrial, based on juror misconduct.
"Most [of the juror's posts] were innocuous, but she had spoken to some extent about the trial ... our concern was that if a juror wasn't following one direction, could we have confidence that she was following others?
"These are the judgement calls that we make in the course of a trial ... as it turns out the last thing I should have been doing was asking for a mistrial, because the jury was about to acquit my client. But, obviously, I didn't know that."
Tostee's lawyer Saul Holt, a former Palmerston North prosecutor. Photo / LinkedIn
Holt reiterated that no evidence was withheld from the jury.
"I said to the jury they heard everything and they did ... we talked about Mr Tostee's police history before.
"We could have, had we chosen to, had the tape edited to remove references to conversations he had with Warriena Wright on that night about previous dealings with the police and we chose not to, so I could say to the jury 'you have heard everything undiluted'."
The prosecution had alleged Tostee so intimidated Wright in their date gone wrong that she feared for her life when she fell while attempting to climb to the balcony below.
But Tostee's defence argued he was acting in self-defence when he removed her from his apartment, to the balcony, and locked the door.
The case had demonstrated the power of the jury system, Hold told Radio New Zealand.
"Because what the jury said is 'actually, someone should be judged on what they did now, what they did in relation to this matter, not judged on the basis of their history ... that's what I think Australians and New Zealanders call giving someone a fair go."
