Criminal procedure – Apparent bias – Application to decline jurisdiction. High Court of Justiciary: In an application by the Crown to set aside an acquittal and grant authority to bring a new prosecution, a trial judge in 2007 having acquitted the respondent of charges of the rape and murder of two girls in 1977, the court rejected the respondent's application submitting that the Lord Justice Clerk, who had presided over another trial involving him 12 years earlier, should decline jurisdiction to hear the double jeopardy application, as the impartial and informed observer would not suspect bias as a result of the Lord Justice Clerk's past involvement with the respondent.