In an unprecedented move, Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi yesterday postponed a trial by jury over a news report he felt could have influenced jurors.
The judge was set to preside over the trial of Melchior Spiteri, 40, accused of murdering an Italian man 22 years ago.
But Mr Justice Mizzi dismissed jurors and postponed the trial indefinitely after he deemed an article published in l-Orizzont as prejudicial to the case.
The news report informed readers that Mr Spiteri’s trial had to start yesterday but it included reference to a previous conviction for murder he received in 2003.
The background information about the previous conviction contained in the news report fell within ordinary journalistic practice given that Mr Spiteri had been sentenced to 30 years jail for another murder.
However, Mr Justice Mizzi deemed this to be prejudicial to the case on the basis of a law that says jurors should not be informed of an accused person’s previous convictions.
The judge’s decision raised eyebrows in media circles since the information about Mr Spiteri was widely available on the internet even before l-Orizzont published it.
But according to two top criminal lawyers the judge acted within the parameters of the law. Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell said he agreed with the decision because “prevention is better than cure”.
He said prejudicial pre-trial publicity could lead to a lack of a fair trial because jurors would be influenced.
“It is a cardinal principle at law that previous convictions of the accused cannot be disclosed to jurors not to influence them in the course of the trial,” Dr Tonna Lowell said.
When it was pointed out that jurors could have had access to the information even if they did not read l-Orizzont, Dr Tonna Lowell said it was unlikely a juror would have Googled the defendant’s name.
“Jurors would not know who the accused is until the trial starts. And, although there is the probability that jurors would not have seen l-Orizzont, why should the judge take the risk? I believe prevention is better than cure and Mr Justice Mizzi was correct.”
According to criminal lawyer Joe Giglio the judge applied the law to the letter.
He said the judge must have felt the news report making reference to the previous conviction breached the principle that jurors should not be informed of the criminal past of an accused person.
“Jurors are not made aware of previous convictions because they are expected to determine guilt or otherwise on the merit of the charge alone,” Dr Giglio said.
The judge’s decision could also be interpreted as a message to journalists to pay more attention not to taint the justice system with prejudicial reporting, he added.
Mr Spiteri was to stand trial for the murder of Vittorio Cassone, an Italian businessman, during a hold-up on his shop in St Julian’s in January 1993.
Mr Spiteri, then an 18-year-old, was on the run after having escaped from prison a month earlier.
In December 2003 Mr Spiteri was jailed for 30 years after a jury found him guilty of murdering Jason Azzopardi, known as Is-Sufu, two years earlier.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com