South Australian Current Acts

JURIES ACT 1927 - SECT 7

7—Trial without jury

        (1)         Subject to this section, where, in a criminal trial before the Supreme Court or the District Court—

            (a)         the accused elects, in accordance with the rules of court, to be tried by the judge alone; and

            (b)         the presiding judge is satisfied that the accused, before making the election, sought and received advice in relation to the election from a legal practitioner,

the trial will proceed without a jury.

        (2)         No election may be made under subsection (1) where the accused is charged with a minor indictable offence and has elected to be tried in the District Court.

        (3)         Where two or more persons are jointly charged, no election may be made under subsection (1) unless all of those persons concur in the election.

        (3a)         Where an information is presented to the District Court or the Supreme Court under section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1921 and the information includes a charge of a serious and organised crime offence (within the meaning of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 ), the Director of Public Prosecutions may apply to the court for an order that the accused be tried by judge alone.

        (3b)         The court may make an order on an application under subsection (3a) if it considers it is in the interests of justice to do so (and may do so at any time before commencement of the trial of the matter, regardless of whether a jury has been constituted in accordance with this Act to try the issues on the trial).

        (3c)         Without limiting subsection (3b), the court may make an order on an application under subsection (3a) if it considers that there is a real possibility that acts that may constitute an offence under section 245 or  248 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 would be committed in relation to a member of a jury.

        (3d)         An order of a court on an application under subsection (3a) may be appealed against in the same manner as a decision on an issue antecedent to trial.

        (4)         If a criminal trial proceeds without a jury under this section, the judge may make any decision that could have been made by a jury and such a decision will, for all purposes, have the same effect as a verdict of a jury.