The trial at the Auckland High Court was aborted in August. Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
The police say they probably would not have caused a mistrial at a murder trial if they had had High Court guidelines.
Their late disclosure of photos and notebooks derailed a murder trial of three men in Auckland in July.
The police have reviewed what they call Operation Husky. They considered how the High Court issued a checklist and guidelines in May, which were designed to improve disclosure. These came out after the Operation Husky disclosure, but before the mistrial.
"The review found that if the Practice Note had been in circulation and used for Op Husky, the embedded new checklist and guidelines would likely have identified and mitigated the issues that occurred," police said in an Official Information Act response to RNZ.
RNZ asked police for a report from either of the two reviews of the case, but they replied that there were not any.
The first review - undertaken by police along with Crown solicitors - looked into the disclosure issues and set out to find any further evidence that could be disclosed.
"This was an extensive exercise but standard procedure in the circumstance, which resulted in the Crown lawyers refiling the matter for trial.
"A new hearing is scheduled for early next year," Detective Superintendent Ross McKay said.