The jury that was set to hear the murder case against Sydney property tycoon Ron Medich has been discharged, with revelations crucial evidence wasn't disclosed to him until moments before his trial was to start.
Medich has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael McGurk, who was gunned down outside his Cremorne home on Sydney's North Shore in 2009 in one of the highest-profile slayings in the state's history.
The property developer has also been charged with intimidating Mr McGurk's widow Kimberley.
Seven years after Mr McGurk's death and six years after Medich was charged with murder, he was due to face a NSW Supreme Court trial this year.
A jury of 15 men and women had been selected to hear the three- to four-month trial.
But Justice Geoffrey Bellew on Monday agreed to send those jurors home and vacate the trial dates due to a "troubling" failure by prosecutors to disclose evidence to Medich until 9.55am on July 11 - what was to be the first day of his trial.
Justice Bellew said the two lever-arch folders of material handed to Medich that morning related to what he has described as "the 2013 incident", details of which cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
"Its significance is probably best gauged by the fact that a specific task force was created to investigate it, independent of that which was set up to investigate the deceased's murder," the judge said on Monday.
"It is the accused's position that the circumstances surrounding the 2013 incident have a bearing on at least one of the principal issues in his trial."
Justice Bellew said the delays by one task force to hand material over to officers investigating Mr McGurk's death and for that material to make its way to the Crown and finally to the accused, left him no choice but to vacate Medich's trial dates.
The decision means Medich may not face trial before 2017.
"Quite apart from the public interest and irrespective of what might be the ultimate outcome of this trial, the deceased's family would no doubt wish to have some closure after such a long period," Justice Bellew said.
"That is something which they will now be denied for a further period of time."
Outside court, Medich agreed the delay was "disappointing" but did not comment further.
The case is now due to return to court on August 8.
