Public Address | Cafe | Legal Beagle: If Britain Jumped off a Bridge...

Ben Austin

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:56:04 +1200

Speaking of Britain, law, crime and the like the 42 day detention bill was passed in the House today, 315-306. Let us hope the Lords do their duty.

Makes me ashamed to be a short term economic migrant residing in Britain sometimes

Leigh Kennaway

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:20:46 +1200

And what if four or five jury members spend half the trial doing Sudoku? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10515690

Graeme Edgeler

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:27:13 +1200

Four hours is no time at all to permit a jury to deliberate on a complex case. Is that applicable to every case, Graeme?

Not really. In no case can a verdict with a sole dissenter be accepted before 4 hours, but whether one will be accepted is ultimately up…

Rex Widerstrom

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:33:56 +1200

Four hours is no time at all to permit a jury to deliberate on a complex case. Is that applicable to every case, Graeme? So, for instance, a jury which heard the evidence in a case which stretched over weeks of complex testimony would be under pressure to reach a…

Tim McKenzie

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:26:29 +1200

The Criminal Procedure Bill, among the many laws our Parliament enacts, doesn't really sound like the sort of legislation to create a small furore – least of all over proposed changes to preliminary hearings in the indictable jurisdiction.

I'm not sure about that; after all, this is the country that…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:04:18 +1200

More crimes of Garth McVicar. One day I hope to see him convicted of something – although unless he gets into a libel/perjury trap one day, I doubt it'll happen.

Unfortunately, I think cases where a key prosecution witness has been offered or given excessive inducements are quite common, aren't…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:42:25 +1200

I can only hope Simon Power finds himself having to deal with the manure as the responsible minister, because it takes very little imagination to see some outcomes that the usual suspects aren't going to like at all

He'll just blame it all on Labour, Craig. It's the way it…

Craig Ranapia

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:06:23 +1200

What do you think?

I assume you're looking for something more practicable (and less homicidal) than sealing the Debating Chamber and filling it with carbon monoxide? At the very least, I can only hope Simon Power finds himself having to deal with the manure as the responsible minister, because it…

Matthew Poole

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:52:56 +1200

Four hours isn't very long to deliberate before getting permission to present a majority verdict. I was foreman on a murder trial, and we deliberated for about 10 hours (that's actual deliberation, because we were out overnight so had the case for about 20 hours) before we managed to resolve…

Russell Brown

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:49:33 +1200

P.S. For those who haven't read it yet, I recommend Steven Price' short post arguing that the Sensible Sentencing Trust has committed a criminal contempt of court. I think Steven finds more contempts of court than David Farrar finds breaches of the Electoral Finance Act, but this one is particularly…

Lyndon Hood

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:31:42 +1200

And I thought I was paying attention because I knew one thing the bill contained other than the depositions stuff...

Public Address

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:31:42 +1200

Discussion from blog post.