The Victorian Court of Appeal annulled the guilty verdict of the first trial in 2004 and ordered a retrial on the ground that the trial judge had failed to answer a question from a member of the jury asking if the term reasonable doubt could be expressed as a percentage. The trial judge followed the judgement in Green v R, that judges should not explain to juries the meaning of reasonable doubt, that they should explain only in terms that beyond reasonable doubt is the highest standard of proof known to the law, or that further definition would be neither useful nor proper. The Court of Appeal, in a judgement by Justices Vincent, Charles and Osborn, held that the trial judge should have explained to the jury that reasonable doubt was not a percentage, unlike the position in a civil rather than a criminal case where the standard of proof, the balance of probabilities, could be expressed as a percentage of greater than 51:49. Verdict In 2006, the second trial resulted in a hung jury. In 2007, all three were again found guilty, and were sentenced by the trial judge, Justice Coldrey, to sentences that ranged from nineteen years to twenty-three and a half years. The Court of Appeal dismissed a further appeal in March 2009. Justices Virginia Bell and Susan Crennan of the High Court of Australia refused an application seeking special leave to appeal on 11 December 2009. See also List of solved missing person cases References 2000 murders in Australia 2000s in Victoria (Australia) Deaths by person in Australia Missing person cases in Australia Murder convictions without a body Organised crime events in Australia Supreme Court of Victoria cases Murder in Victoria (Australia)