A juror involved in the conviction of football star Jarryd Hayne on two counts of rape felt pressured to convict him.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal that one of the 12 jurors sent a note to the judge complaining that they were being treated “aggressively” and were intimidated by an “agenda” to convict.
The jury sent the note at a crucial moment in the deliberations when the jury was telling Judge Graham Turnbull, South Carolina, that they could not unanimously agree on a guilty verdict.
The appearance of the note comes as Hayne enjoyed his last day of freedom on Wednesday with his wife and children as he prepares to fight a request to be sent to jail tomorrow.
Jarryd Hayne emerges Wednesday just hours after being found guilty of rape and a day before he is set to be sentenced and likely jailed for up to 14 years.
On Wednesday, Jarryd Hayne stepped out with his wife Amellia Bonnici (above) and reported to Merrylands Police Station, a requirement three times a week while on bail.
Daily Mail Australia understands that Hayne will appeal his conviction on the grounds that the verdict was unreasonable and did not reflect the evidence.
Disgraced former NRL star faces up to 14 years in jail after being found guilty on Tuesday afternoon of raping a woman in a house in Newcastle almost five years ago.
Hayne was photographed leaving his home in Merrylands, western Sydney, with his wife Amellia Bonnici and their daughters, aged 6 and one.
The NSW District Court jury of six men and six women sent a note to the court shortly before 12:30pm on Monday, saying they were struggling to reach a unanimous decision and were “seeking guidance on how to proceed”.
This caused the judge to give them “black direction,” which advises a jury unable to reach a verdict after deliberation to “serve the utilitarian goal of returning a verdict without undue pressure on jurors to change.” of opinion’.
But in a separate note to the judge, one juror said he felt they were being pressured or intimidated by other members of the jury panel into having an “agenda.”
Judge Turnbull informed prosecutors and the defense attorney of the note and urged the jury to continue deliberations that had begun on March 27.
Jarryd Hayne (above with his lawyers Margaret Cunneen and Lauren MacDougall during his rape trial) will appeal the conviction on the grounds that “the verdict was unreasonable and did not reflect the evidence”.
Jarryd Hayne and his wife Amellia Bonnici look grim as they leave court after he was convicted Tuesday afternoon of two counts of rape.
He told them: ‘I have the power to exempt you from rendering a verdict, but I should only do so if I am satisfied that there is no likelihood of a genuine agreement being reached after further deliberation.’
The jury adjourned to consider their verdict after an 11-day trial, Hayne’s third, on two counts of non-consensual sex.
Hayne, 35, pleaded not guilty to raping a 26-year-old woman on September 30, 2018, when he was accused of assaulting her in her bedroom in Fletcher, a Newcastle suburb.
Evidence during the trial said he assaulted her with his hand and mouth, causing her genitals to bleed, while she had a taxi waiting outside to take him home to Sydney on the NRL’s big final night.
On Tuesday morning, after more than 20 hours of deliberations, the judge told the jury, “If you’re in trouble, you need to send us a note, let us know.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the jury sent another note saying it had taken another vote and had “progressed” but had “not reached a unanimous decision” and asked for clarification on whether “ignorance is a defense enough”.
The judge told the jury that the short answer was ‘no’, adding that ‘in this case, you have to remember that the burden of proof lies with the Crown, and not with the defendant, and the defendant does not have to prove anything.
You have given an explanation and I remind you that if you accept that explanation as true or possibly true, then that constitutes a reasonable doubt and you are entitled to be acquitted.
At 3:37 p.m. Tuesday, the jury returned a guilty verdict.
On Thursday, Hayne will be sentenced to a maximum term of 14 years, and the prosecution will file a detainer request for Hayne, which will likely land him in jail.
Hayne, whose first trial in 2020 ended with a split jury, spent 11 months in prison after his second trial ended with a conviction in March 2021, before being released in February 2022 after an appeal overturned the decision.
His lawyer, Margaret Cunneen, will oppose a prosecution request for his arrest on Thursday and is expected to appeal his latest conviction on the grounds that the verdict was unreasonable and did not reflect the evidence.
Margaret Cunneen said Hayne (pictured leaving Cooma prison last year after a previous conviction was overturned) was “bravely facing” the prospect of going back to prison.
“He is very brave and confident that he will eventually be vindicated because he has only told the truth,” Ms Cunneen said of her client.
Regarding the likelihood of going to jail while an appeal is launched, Ms Cunneen said: “He is facing it bravely.” It will not be for long’.
Jarryd did not lie. It was ridiculously simple.
Ms Cunneen said Hayne’s alleged victim had “curated and left things out” in her account of what happened on the night in question.
After posting images of Hayne via social media, he said Hayne had arrived at the woman’s home.
When Hayne arrived, she “was in bed face down trying to hide” her eye, which was affected after a bout of meningitis.
Ms Cunneen said that when the young woman “got upset about the taxi, (Hayne) said she had paid $500 so she could stay as long as she wanted.”
“He watched the football and then thought, ‘I better go in there and be nice to her.'” It was then that the young woman said that the sexual assaults occurred.