From: Jonathan Spencer, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>"Brian Toller", INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] chucks his
tuppence worth into the boiling oil with:
>Precisely what, if any, penalty can be imposed on a jury who takes it into
>their heads to find someone either innocent or guilty in flagrant
>contradiction to the facts in any given case?
None, I should have thought. The BAe case is a prime example, and the
recent GM food destruction another.
>I would have a great deal of difficulty sleeping at nights if I had sent
>some poor sod to jail merely because I was only following (the judges)
>orders when I could see no fault in his actions.
It's for the judge to explain what the law is: he doesn't issue orders.
A judge can direct a not guilty finding, he cannot direct a guilty
finding. Sometimes, on a 'point of law', a judge makes a decision as to
what the law means. That's always subject to review by an appeal court.
But in directing a jury as to what the law means, he would explain, for
example, what the offence of theft requires. Theft requires an element
of dishonesty. He would explain that 'dishonest' is what the ordinary
man, what they, consider to be dishonest. It is for the *jury* - not
the judge - to decide whether the accused acted dishonestly or not.
But to your point about sending someone down because they've breached
the law, I have seen two recent cases in the Crown Court where it was
*the judge* who stepped in and stopped the Crown from presenting their
case on the basis that it simply was not fair to prosecute the man. In
one case this was done in chambers - the judge persuaded the prosecutor
to 'present no evidence'. In the other case it was done in open Court
(in public) with the judge lambasting the prosecution for persecuting
the accused: in that case, the prosecution team had a re-think and
withdrew the case.
If anyone wants to see no-nonsense summary justice, they should attend
one of the country stipendiary magistrate's courts in Northern Ireland.
In fact, I think it should be compulsory viewing. :-)
--Jonathan Spencer, firearms examiner
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty
is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."
Benjamin Franklin, 1759
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