A Hamilton District Court jury has proved that the wheels of justice can indeed turn quickly - it returned a verdict in one minute.
In a move that astonished lawyers, who did not even have time to exchange pleasantries, and the judge, who barely made it out of the courtroom, the jury returned to declare "Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty" to three sex charges laid against a young Hamilton man.
The lawyer for the accused, Roger Laybourn, said yesterday that he had tagged the result the "one-minute verdict" after the jury of seven women and five men left the courtroom at 12.30 pm on Wednesday, then returned at 12.31.
"I couldn't really believe it. They went out, they knocked on the door, they came in, they let him go," said Mr Laybourn.
"It's very flattering in a way." His client was "very, very happy."
Mr Laybourn said the closest he had come to such a quick verdict was a six-minute decision. "Back then, I thought that was astonishing."
His 22-year-old client faced two charges of indecent assault and one of assault with intent to rape when the two-day trial began on Tuesday.
Judge John MacDonald confirmed yesterday that he returned to tell the stunned court it was the fastest decision he had seen in 11 years on the bench.
Crown prosecutor Quentin Almao went even further, telling the jury it was the quickest verdict he had witnessed in 30 years of trial work.
Department for Courts spokesman Barry Ebert said no records were kept of the time it took juries to reach verdicts, but it was certainly the fastest decision he had heard of.
Mr Laybourn said the 21-year-old woman who made the accusations had difficulty convincing the jury of her claims.
"The problem was that the jury did not find her a credible witness. Still, these things usually take a little longer to sort through ... They'd obviously made up their minds."
He said the only disquieting feature of the verdict was a note handed to the court-taker with the three not guilty verdicts and the signatures of each juror next to each decision.
"When did they get the time to do that?"
Jury stuns court with verdict in 60 seconds
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