From the NZ Herald:

Judge to sum up in threatened juror case
Wednesday April 09, 2008

A High Court judge will this morning sum up the case against a man accused of threatening a juror during a white supremacist kidnapping trial in July last year.

Lloyd James Bowling, 40, unemployed, of Stokes Valley, denies being party to an attempt to corruptly influence a juror, during a High Court trial in Wellington.

The trial involved four men charged with the kidnap, robbery and assault of tourist Jeremie Kawerninski, who is of Canadian Indian descent, in April last year.

Three of the defendants in the trial, Jaydon Borland, Jason Gregory and Benjamin McPadden were found guilty of various charges, while the fourth, Mark Gage, was discharged on the penultimate day of the trial - July 12 - due to lack of evidence.

On July 13, a juror found a note on his doorstep saying “not guilty” in capital letters, with a swastika sign beside it.

The juror, whose name is suppressed, was discharged from the jury and later left New Zealand, in part due to concerns over his family’s safety.

Summing up the crown case yesterday, prosecutor Mark Anderson said the juror was singled out because he was not white.

Bowling’s fingerprint was on the paper the message was written on, at a place which showed it had been made after the note was folded.

Bowling had posed a hypothetical question to his arresting officer, asking what would happen if he admitted writing the note but denied knowing what it was going to be used for.

Mr Anderson said for the charge to be proven, the jury only had to find Bowling had taken a positive step or act in relation to the offence.

He said the note had been written on pages from Bowling’s book. It had his fingerprint on it.

Bowling was a known white supremacist with links to the defendants in the trial.

The evidence he had been involved in writing the note was “overwhelming”.

The jury could also draw the inference he had delivered the note.

However, defence lawyer Keith Jefferies said there was no evidence whatsoever pinning the crime on his client.

The fingerprint could have been put on the paper at any time, and the rest of the evidence was speculation.

He said the crown was asking the jury to speculate and guess - a “travesty of justice”.

“There is a large gaping crevasse in the crown’s case and they’re trying to cover it up with fancy words,” Mr Jefferies said.

He said the jury had to put aside their dislike of the way his client looked or his political or cultural views and act dispassionately, as judges.

Justice Robert Dobson will give his summary of the case to the jury of eight men and four women today.