The trial of Gable Tostee has triggered calls for a review into the charge powers of prosecution as well as changes to the Queensland Jury Act to possibly "quarantine" jury members.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Tostee was acquitted on Thursday on the charges of the murder and the manslaughter of Warriena Wright, who plunged to her death from the balcony of his 14th-floor Gold Coast apartment.
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties vice-president Terry O'Gorman on Friday questioned whether there had been sufficient evidence to charge Mr Tostee with murder.
"Whilst some legal commentators say that the Director of Public Prosecutions had no choice but to move forward with the case and that there was sufficient evidence for the matter to be put in the hands of a jury, other commentators take the position that there was not sufficient evidence to justify a charge and that the matter should have been referred in the first instance to the State Coroner", Mr O'Gorman said.
"We are not alleging bad faith on the prosecution's part, but it highlights a little-known law that when a prosecutor decides on a particular charge, their decision is utterly not reviewable in court and they are accountable to no one.
"There are some in the criminal defence legal community who say the charge should never have been brought."
Mr O'Gorman is calling for more accountability and transparency of the DPP's power of charges.
"Prosecutors under the Queensland system of law have become extremely powerful," he said.
"It was a decision the DPP made that they have to be accountable for, in a situation where Tostee has no remedy.
"A judge has no power any more to stop a case from going on, they used to have that power in the '70s and '80s but they no longer do.
"There has to be greater public explanation, greater accountability and, if at all possible, court supervision of a prosecutor's decision to proceed with a more serious charge when a lesser charge is open."
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to comment.
Barrister and academic James Morton told ABC on Friday that courts may need to look at banning jurors from accessing their mobile phones, after one juror posted to her social media account over the course of the trial, sharing her thoughts of being part of the case.
"They may have to take another step and quarantine jury members from phones and outside communication until they reach a verdict," he said.
While the woman, who cannot be identified, wrote the trial was "a bit full on" and "a nasty one", Justice John Byrne dismissed an application for a mistrial by Mr Tostee's lawyers, but chastised the juror's behaviour at the end of the trial.
"This is a particularly disappointing feature of the events of the day but only one is responsible for it," Justice Byrne said.
"That juror will discover when she accesses her Instagram account that many members of the public have commented on her decision to communicate with others during the course of the trial."
A court spokesperson said on Friday there was no further action planned against the juror.
-with AAP
