Jury in Bruce Lehrmann trial unable to reach verdict

A jury has been directed to continue deliberating on a verdict in the trial for a man accused of raping Brittany Higgins after indicating it could not reach one unanimously.

Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and is facing a criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court.

After three days and six hours of deliberations, the jurors sent a note to the court on Tuesday afternoon saying they were "unable to reach a unanimous agreement".

But Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told them experience shows juries are able to reach a decision if they are given more time.

"I ask you to retire again to see if you can reach a verdict in this trial," she said.

She said they must calmly and objectively listen to each other's opinions and try to reach a unanimous decision.

"You cannot join in a verdict if you do not honestly and genuinely think it is the correct one," she said.

The chief justice on Monday told the jurors there was no time limit on when they needed to reach a verdict.

She said they should not feel pressured to make a decision.

"There's no rush. There's no time limit," she said.

She instructed the jurors to find a verdict according to the evidence presented in the courtroom.

Ms Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her in the Parliament House office of former defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, for whom they both worked as staffers, in March 2019. He denies any sexual interaction happened.

The jury heard from 29 witnesses over the course of the trial, including coalition senators Reynolds and Michaelia Cash.

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Source: 9News