So, Suddenly, Ignorance Of The Law IS An Excuse?

Dallas told her fellow jurors she discovered that Medlock had previously been accused, and acquitted, of rape - information not given during the trial.

Her actions caused the collapse of Barry Medlock's grievous bodily harm trial at Luton Crown Court, the High Court was told yesterday.

Just another dumb juror?

Theodora Dallas, 34, said the judge spoke 'too formally and softly' for her to understand.

She told the High Court that she had 'no intention' to 'influence' the jury but had struggled to understand what the trial judge was saying.

Yup, probably unemployed (or unemployable), or a minimum wage cleaner or shopgirl or…

Oh:

Dallas, a psychology lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire…

/facepalm

'We submit that the reason that she did it was to influence other members of the jury, she did this deliberately in a calculated manner in the face of protest from other jurors,' Mr Grieve said

He added: 'The jury officer, the judge, the notices placed all over the jury area and in the retiring room all make reference explicitly to the internet.'

Quite! It’s hard to see how that excuse is going to fly, but full marks to the defence for persevering with it:

Charles Parry, defending, said that the warnings of the judge were more like 'a godfather giving advice to a child rather than with emphasis.'

It sounds like even a child would have been able to comprehend. Maybe someone should take another look at her qualifications?

Meanwhile, in bucolic Yorkshire:

Police fighting to stop Eastern European migrants binge drinking in the street have put up posters in seven different languages saying that alcohol is banned.

Officers in Armley, West Yorkshire, had the message translated into Slovak, Czech, Polish, Russian, Latvian and Lithuanian. It is also written in English.

It’s nice to see English there, even if it is as an afterthought…

Inspector Mark Wheeler, senior neighbourhood officer for Armley, said that reports of street drinking in the area had been 'on the increase due to Eastern Europeans coming and not fully understanding the regulations.'

So, who cares? Just bang ‘em up!

They brought in the signs so people cannot plead for leniency claiming they could not read the English signs.

Do you suppose English people caught committing crimes abroad can claim leniency on the grounds they couldn’t read the signs?

No, me neither. Maybe they have more intelligent judges over there?

H/T: CJ Nerd via email