The Court of Appeal dismissed Andrew Franey’s appeal against his conviction for assault causing serious harm, finding that the trial judge acted within his discretion in pausing the trial and that the jury had not been pressured to reach a verdict.
Franey was convicted by a 10:2 jury majority in June 2012 of assaulting Garda Helena Power at a Halloween bonfire in Clonmel in 2008. He had also pleaded guilty to a separate charge of assault causing harm to Garda Thomas O’Halloran, arising from the same occasion. The trial judge imposed concurrent sentences, including a ten-year term for the serious-harm offence, with the final three years suspended.
The appeal concerned only the conviction for assault causing serious harm. Franey argued that the trial judge should have discharged the jury rather than adjourn the trial after a prosecution witness was found to be unavailable. The witness, Garda Foot, was in the United States and was expected to return on 16 June. The trial resumed on 26 June, after a 17-day break.
The Court of Appeal said the decision to pause the trial was within the trial judge’s discretion and was not unsafe in the circumstances. It noted that the case was not complex and that any prejudice from the break could be addressed by a fuller review of the evidence heard before it. The trial judge had in fact reviewed that evidence in detail.
Franey also argued that comments by the trial judge about finishing the case, and the jury’s continued deliberations late on the evening of 28 June, put pressure on jurors to reach a verdict. The appeal relied in part on a jury note about members’ availability. The Court of Appeal rejected the argument that the note indicated a juror would be unavailable on the Friday. It said the note showed the jury was willing to be flexible about starting early or finishing late on Thursday or Friday.
The court concluded that no pressure had been exerted on the jury and dismissed the appeal on both grounds. The judgment addressed the conviction appeal; it did not alter the sentences described in the judgment.