A bid by a double murderer to overturn his conviction must be reheard after one of the appeal judges forgot he oversaw the original trial.
Jason O'Driscoll was found guilty of the murder of two men in Co Louth 13 years ago.
The 42-year-old, from Richmond Avenue, Fairview in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to murdering 31-year-old Anthony Burnett and 25-year-old Joseph Redmond on 7 March 2012.
In December 2017, after a trial that lasted six weeks, a jury told Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy that it could not reach either a unanimous or majority verdict in O'Driscoll's case.
He was sentenced to life in prison in October 2018 by Mr Justice Michael White after he was convicted of the double murder by a ten to two majority verdict of a retrial jury.
O'Driscoll's appeal against his conviction was heard for over two hours yesterday before Mr Justice John Edwards, Mr Justice McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy.
After taking a break for lunch, defence counsel for O’Driscoll informed the court that Mr Justice McCarthy had been the judge in O'Driscoll’s original 2017 trial.
Senior Counsel Seán Guerin said that the grounds for O'Driscoll’s appeal had been litigated in that trial.
Mr Justice McCarthy said he had been in the original trial and "should have remembered".
Mr Justice Edwards noted that it had been a long time since the original trial.
He said that the case would be adjourned in order for the three-judge court to reconstitute and the appeal be reheard without Mr Justice McCarthy.
The new appeal date was set for 13 November.
