R V Carroll

R v Carroll (2002) 213 CLR 635; HCA 55 is a decision of the High Court of Australia which unanimously upheld a Queensland appellate court’s decision to stay an indictment for perjury as the indictment was found to controvert the respondent’s earlier acquittal for murder. The court held that charging Raymond John Carroll with perjuring himself in the earlier murder trial by swearing he did not kill the baby Deidre Kennedy was tantamount to claiming he had committed the murder and was thus a contravention of the principles of double jeopardy. The case caused widespread public outcry and prompted calls for double jeopardy law reform.