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Legal first as Dublin jury sent home for night

Jurors in a murder trial has made legal history after they were sent home for the night rather than being sent to a hotel under garda supervision. New laws that came into force on January 1, allow for juries to be sent home once deliberations have begun.

Previously they had to be sequestered together, sometimes for nights and weeks in a hotel until they had decided the verdict of a case.

Under the new provision, jurors may separate after they retire to consider their verdict for a period or periods as directed by the trial judge. The Government denied that the new law was a cost-cutting measure but was introduced for the ease of juries.

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