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Guilty until proven innocent — 13 Comments

  1. Or has the judicial system been superseded by Twitter and Farcebook?

    Yes, do try and keep up Old man. Next question?

  2. I served on a jury that had to consider a rape charge.

    I was very impressed with how seriously the jury took their duty throughout the trial and deliberations.

    We reached a unanimous ‘Not Guilty’. We thought she had consented and then regretted it later.

    The opinion of anyone who didn’t hear ALL the evidence and consider as conscientiously as we did is worth nothing.

    None of us enjoyed it, but all of us did a good job.

    I am certain that we reached the right verdict.

    • Welcome James.  That underlines my whole point.  The jury is privy to all the evidence, some of which may not be in the public domain.  Not only that but they are physically in the presence of the accused and some of the hard evidence, thereby are able to judge the accused’s demeanour.

      I believe the jury in the case above was out for a fairly short time of two or three hours which would tend to indicate that there was little need for debate and that all the jury members had probably reached a consensus pretty much straight away.

      None of that is of any interest to the Keyboard Warriors though.  They just see A Cause to shout about.

  3. Similar is the Warboys parole case – the Parole Board could only take account of those offences for which he had been convicted, anything else was an unproved allegation, yet the volume of ‘comment’ has caused Warboys (for whom I have no sympathy) to remain in jail on account of unproven allegations.   Another case of being considered guilty by the mob rather than the courts.

    The real ‘crime’ is that the Police and Crown Prosecution Service chose not to pursue all the documented allegations available to them, being content to get him locked up on a sample few – had they done their job right, his original sentence would have been much longer and any parole possibility been thus more remote.   That the Justice Secretary should then force the honourable head of the Parole Board to resign just to cover his own incompetent arse, merely adds to the view of a system and personnel in urgent need of a refresh.

    • Lynch mobs seem to be the thing these days.  I hadn’t followed that case either [I take little interest in the courts unless I am involved] but had heard mention all right.

      Having said that, I overheard a bit on the radio about some bloke here in Ireland who was up before the judge on a burglary charge, and it transpired that he had something like sixty or seventy previous convictions.  There’s one for the parole boards?

      • If he’s had sixty or seventy convictions (i.e. those were the times he got caught and with enough evidence to convict) and assuming the Irish Plod are no more competent than their UK cousins, it begs the question of how many more offences he had actually committed?    Being so bad at the job as to be caught 60 – 70 times also suggests that maybe a change of career could be warranted.

  4. The lads should sue the lieing little bitch for ruining their reputation …As for these “crowds” its the media doing the typical thing they been doing for weeks now lapping up the views and bullshit these “crowds” seem like 20 of the typical weak bitch boys and fat feminists you would expect to protest when ever a little angel of a women kills a child and is convicted or is found out for the lier she is they dont care about justice only about their politics

    • Whoa there Dark!  Aren’t you now falling into the exact trap that I’m on about above?  I presume your logic is that because the defendants were found innocent, that she must therefore be guilty?  It may be so, but we do not have all the facts as laid out in court. My whole argument is on the ignorant bias that pervades “social media” [which can be really fucking anti-social at times] based on assumptions and wild speculation.  I am not passing any comment on the outcome of the case, merely pointing out that people are following the herd.  And when it come to the media whipping up the fervour – you are spot on!

      • i find the accusation of rape cultures and all men being rapists such cases bring to be somewhat “triggering” false accusations and the circus around it needs to be stopped somehow

        • The whole problem with rape cases is that invariably it’s one person’s word against another.  Maybe in the future all parties will have to sign a consent form before sex.  That would add a bit of romance to the occasion?

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