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A juror in the Australian "Tinder murder trial" of 30-year-old man Gable Tostee almost caused a retrial hours before the verdict was read because she was regularly posting to Instagram.

Tostee was found not guilty of murder and Watch Watery Boarding House Onlinemanslaughter charges.

Identifying herself as a jury member and commenting on the trial to well over 2,000 followers, the woman (who can't be identified) caused a delay in the trial's deliberations, while defence lawyer Saul Holt QC argued the jury be broken up and the very lengthy trial rendered invalid.

And all because the woman was particularly found of taking coffee cup portraits.

"I snagged a nasty one, so it's a bit full on," she typed in one post, leaving comments like "you may have heard about it on the news," and "I took it home with me yesterday and woke quite miserable this morning," in others.

The hashtag-heavy, diary-style Instagram posts saw the juror scolded privately by Justice John Byrne, according to the ABC.

However, after two hours of deliberation, the judge found the comments — despite being risky — didn’t provide enough details to risk an unfair trial.

"I think to release any commentary on social media is definitely skirting on the edge," Queensland Law Society deputy president Christine Smyth told the outlet. "It's quite important — we are dealing with the lives of a young man and his family and, more importantly, a death of a young girl and her family and loved ones."

If the juror was found guilty of revealing the jury's trial deliberations, she'd not only be impeding the course of justice, she would also be gambling with a two-year jail sentence.

So when The Courier Mailbroke the news of the juror's Instagram past-time (since deleted, presumably for legal reasons), the comments on her coffee cup photos started flooding in. "You f*cking idiot," said one commenter, while another got more in-depth.

"... Jury Act 1995 (QLD) states that a juror must not communicate with anyone outside the court during any proceedings. Because of your cute little photos of coffee cups and by making mention of your jury duty, the judge has the right (and obligation) to discharge the entire jury and request a retrial," they said.

"Even if you're not doing the one that is being broadcast on the news, it is still incredibly dangerous (and illegal — we're talking contempt of the court here, a crime that can result your imprisonment). Good reminder to think very carefully before you post anything on social media."

Typically, a court judge will regularly remind jurors not to discuss a trial with any members of the public. In this case, perhaps the judge wasn't specific enough with his request for confidentiality when it came to social media.

Or else (and more likely) this particular juror thought something like "What's the harm in a little confessional coffee cup photography? The colours are so beautiful! #Coffee #Colours #JuryDuty #TinderMurderTrial."

All it would have taken is a slightly more detailed question from a commenter or comment from the juror herself, and the stakes would have been much higher.

Criminal barrister and Queensland University of Technology lecturer James Morton told the ABC the Jury Act may have to be amended to reflect the reality of social media use.

"I think the jury members' mobile phones and access to social media will have to be restricted during the course of the deliberations," he said.

"It's similar to quarantining a jury for deliberations, so we may have to take another step and quarantine jury members from phones and outside communications until they reach a verdict."

However, it's hard to imagine any self-respecting social media user (a.k.a. anyone) giving up their phone for a matter of weeks or months without complaint.

Gable Tostee was acquitted of manslaughter as well as being found not guilty of murder in the strange, tragic 2014 incident that saw a 26-year-old New Zealand woman, Warriena Wright, lose her life.

daz

Expert writer and contributor. Passionate about sharing knowledge and insights on various topics.