Pickering v The Queen

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIAKIEFEL CJ,GAGELER, NETTLE, GORDON AND EDELMAN JJRODNEY PETER PICKERING  APPELLANTANDTHE QUEEN  RESPONDENTPickering v The Queen[2017] HCA 173 May 2017B68/2016ORDER1.Appeal allowed.2.Set aside the order of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland made on 6 May 2016, and in its place order that: (a) the appeal be allowed;(b) the appellant's conviction be quashed; and (c) a new trial be had.On appeal from the Supreme Court of QueenslandRepresentationM J Copley QC with C J Grant for the appellant (instructed by Anderson Telford Lawyers)M R Byrne QC with G J Cummings for the respondent (instructed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (Qld))Notice:  This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.CATCHWORDSPickering v The QueenCriminal law – Justification and excuse – Resisting actual and unlawful violence threatened to person – Where appellant stabbed deceased – Where appellant acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter – Where s 31(1) of Criminal Code (Q) not left to jury – Whether appellant able to rely on s 31(1) to deny criminal responsibility in relation to offence of manslaughter – Whether s 31(2) renders s 31(1) unavailable wherever evidence discloses that act of accused constitutes offence described in s 31(2) regardless of charge.Words and phrases – "act", "criminally responsible", "liable to punishment", "offence".Criminal Code (Q), s 31.KIEFEL CJ AND NETTLE J.   The appellant was tried in the Supreme Court of Queensland for the murder of Ivan John Owens ("the deceased"). ...