son's trial coninues

[Rights Fighter]

The evidence the girl gave is hearsay - the fact she said she "saw" the bruises is not exactly hearsay but if the judge wrongly directed the jury as to the status of her evidence there might be something there. A medical expert could be instructed in relation to what the bruises would have looked like at a certain time after the alleged assaults but the CA would then say "why didn't you call that evidence at trial?"

Therefore this would not come under the heading of "fresh evidence" as it would have been available at trial. There might be another way of arguing it into grounds - having said that I have not seen any of the paperwork of course, and did not attend the trial so I cannot say anything in concrete terms here.

[gem]

just had a quick look at the barristers notice of appeal
it says there can be no criticism of the judges summing up, it was balanced and fair,
but my one concern is the way the judge dealt with the contradictory evidence concerning when a complaint was made,to her friend the accuser said in police interview she made this complaint immediately after the rape but her friend in evidence said it was sometime after.but the judge did draw the jurys attention to this.
my one concern however was that he told the jury that the issue was simply the time of the complaint not what was said in the complaint in my view this was self evidently wrong had the complaint been made on the day of the rape the terms on that complaint would be inevitably different. the bruising seen would not have been yellow and fading but red and ongoing the scratches would have been visible.and the complain would have made it clear that the event had just happened at the distress observed would have been very different, but i am not sure this error would have made any difference as far as the jury was concerned.

[worriedfather]

We were told whilst waiting for the verdict that if the Judge is biased or makes comments that are one sided then there are grounds for appeal. In my sons case the judge told the jury about evidence (a bite mark and a police statement that was wrong) that the cps had withdrawn as we could prove that the bite mark was from a dog and the police statement was about another person.
The judge then told the jury when they asked for this evidence that it was not available.
I was told that it would take about 6-8 weeks to get a transcript of the judges summing up, I am amazed that they can do these things and get away with it, i later found out that the judge had worked for the CPS for years before becoming a judge.
my son was found not guilty by the way, juries do get it right sometimes, i will keep my fingers crossed. Good luck

[worriedfather]

Hi Gem
i am sure that you are right, if i remember correctly bruises are very roughly red and swollen for 24 hours, they then go "black and blue" for a week to 2 weeks then yellow and fading, its all to do with the blood breaking down, never herd of a bruise being yellow 3 months after they tend to be gone in a month-6 weeksa at most.

[worriedfather]

barristers dont like to critisize judges, in case they appear before them again. I think that there is a method about complaining about a judge through the ministry of justice or law society

[gem]

hi you could be right their, they don,t like to rock the boat . i also think the barrister was not on my son.s side. when my son was sentenced to 7 years he came out and said to my husband and myself he was very lucky their to get 7 years it could have been worse we were all stunned i said to my husband pinch me or something but was he at the same trial as us ????

[worriedfather]

Janerose, did you do anything about the Blog? Bit on BBC website about a Tweet that disclosed information at a trial in Bristol Someone Tabak? also did the Judge state that the press could publish info, werent allowed to in my sons case Might help

[Rights Fighter]

just had a quick look at the barristers notice of appeal
it says there can be no criticism of the judges summing up, it was balanced and fair,
but my one concern is the way the judge dealt with the contradictory evidence concerning when a complaint was made,to her friend the accuser said in police interview she made this complaint immediately after the rape but her friend in evidence said it was sometime after.but the judge did draw the jurys attention to this.

my one concern however was that he told the jury that the issue was simply the time of the complaint not what was said in the complaint in my view this was self evidently wrong had the complaint been made on the day of the rape the terms on that complaint would be inevitably different. the bruising seen would not have been yellow and fading but red and ongoing the scratches would have been visible.and the complain would have made it clear that the event had just happened at the distress observed would have been very different, but i am not sure this error would have made any difference as far as the jury was concerned.

Trial counsel might believe that the summing up was fair but fresh eyes might have a different view.

I do not understand the 2nd highlighted comment.

[gem]

sorry it should have said
and the complaint would have made it clear the event had just happened.
and the distress observed would have been very different

[Rights Fighter]

Do you mean "complainant?"

If distress was observed by the recent complaint witness (the one she told just after the alleged assault) then the judge should have given a suitable direction in relation to the "distress" in that this does not prove the alleged assault happened and that it could be feigned....

[gem]

hi r/f he has said complaint on his letter.must be a typing error on his part.
what does that mean then for us can we use this ..for our appeal

[Rights Fighter]

You really should start another thread for this as this is JaneRose's.