Instagramming Tostee juror sparks calls for phone bans during trials

Calls to ‘quarantine’ active jury members from mobile phones has been sparked after a jurywoman posted to social media during the Gable Tostee trial.

Mr Tostee was on Thursday found not guilty of killing New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright, who fell from his 14th floor Gold Coast unit balcony after they met on dating app Tinder.

His legal team requested a mistrial after a female juror, who cannot be identified, posted several times on Instagram to more than 2000 people during the major trial.

She regularly responded to questions from her ‘followers’ regarding the trial process and  how she felt about the case.

“It’s draining… interesting to see the process though,” the juror wrote in the comments section of one post of an image of a decorative coffee cup.

The woman has since deleted her account.

If the mistrial application was successful, the jury could not have delivered their not guilty verdict, and a retrial would have likely been ordered.

"We wouldn't have been doing our job if we hadn't made the application but obviously it was a good thing it was dismissed," Nick Dore, Mr Tostee’s lawyer, said yesterday.

Justice John Byrne dismissed the application for a mistrial, but chastised the juror's behaviour.

"That juror will discover when she accesses her Instagram account that many members of the public have commented on her decision to communicate with others during the course of the trial," Justice Byrne said.

A court spokesperson yesterday said Justice Byrne wouldn't take further action against the juror, but it remains unclear whether the Jury Commissioner will investigate the matter next week.

Barrister and academic James Morton said Queensland courts may need to look at banning jurors from accessing their mobile phones as a result of the incident.

"They may have to take another step and quarantine jury members from phones and outside communication until they reach a verdict," Mr Morton told the ABC News.

A spokesperson for Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said jurors were told repeatedly not to use social media during trials but she was looking into whether improvements could be made to existing arrangements.

With AAP