Forced to be witness?

[0505]

i am shocked how its got this far with just her say so and nothing else, he has lost his job, never met his baby and his name been in the paper, its hard to have faith in the justice system after being involved in something like this, all on one persons say so

i never knew it happened to a lot of people but when i googled i found this site and other info and its sad to see a lot of people lifes can be ruined so quickly

[0505]

I wouldn't say it was your fault, just that maybe your naivety was exploited a bit.
It can happen to the best of people although if you are ever asked to sign anything again, think very carefully. You should have been warned that anything you signed could be used in court.

There should be a contact on the letter.

Thank you for all your help and advice x

[0505]

Faith i hope you dont mind i had a quick peek at a post you made before and you mentioned you made no comment in your interview, He also done this as he has never been interviewed before and just followed his lawyers advice as he did not know the right way to do it, he wanted to say what happened but was told it was best to do no comment? did this go agenst you and do you think it will go agenst him?
i hope you dont mind me asking you.

[Westwood]

0505 - Firstly you need to chill out. Just to put this into perspective my best friend was called by the prosecution to give evidence against me. All he did as you will do is go to court and tell the truth let the jury hear the evidence and let justice be done. Remeber the courtroom is a level playing field. You should also consider that the CPS sometimes claim a witness for the sole purpose of you not appearing for the defense. You may well never have to take the stand. Your employer will have to give you time off by law and it will be later than 9:00 am. By the way we are still best mates.

[0505]

i will try to chill out, thank you for replying

[Faith]

The logic behind saying 'no comment' is that if the police don't have anything on you, then you shouldn't say anything as that will then leave them still with nothing. As the caution goes, anything that you say can be used against you. Police are known for twisting things that people say in interview so often, a solicitor will argue that it is best just not to say anything at all.

If he has been advised by a solicitor to say no comment then it can't be used against him in any significant way in the courtroom. He may be asked why he said no comment but his answer would be that it was under legal advice. The prosecution may try to infer he was hiding something but they would tend to stop following that line very quickly once it had been replied that it was due to legal advice. However, it must be pointed out that a jury contains normal human beings not law experts so just because a judge instructs them not to use something against a defendant it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't place doubts in his mind.

The sense behind saying 'no comment' is often up for debate.
Many will argue that it should be followed each and every time. Others will argue that a full and frank interview is the best way to go.
In legal terms, it shouldn't go against him. But I hope he has a good defence team on side who specialise in sexual crimes because a rape trial is very much different to that of any other trial.
it is really the only trial that can go ahead with just one word against the other.

In terms of my own experience...I wasn't charged so saying 'No Comment' wasa good move for me. I can't say for sure whether it would have went against me had I gone to court, but my solicitor, Chris Saltrese (who is widely regarded as one of the best in this field) told me that it wouldn't go against me in any real way.

[Faith]

You should also consider that the CPS sometimes claim a witness for the sole purpose of you not appearing for the defense.

This is a very common trick that the CPS use but in actual fact, there is nothing they can do to stop someone standing for the defense. They make out that they can however and that's what stops a lot of people.
I think I have that right anyway but someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

[0505]

The logic behind saying 'no comment' is that if the police don't have anything on you, then you shouldn't say anything as that will then leave them still with nothing. As the caution goes, anything that you say can be used against you. Police are known for twisting things that people say in interview so often, a solicitor will argue that it is best just not to say anything at all.

If he has been advised by a solicitor to say no comment then it can't be used against him in any significant way in the courtroom. He may be asked why he said no comment but his answer would be that it was under legal advice. The prosecution may try to infer he was hiding something but they would tend to stop following that line very quickly once it had been replied that it was due to legal advice. However, it must be pointed out that a jury contains normal human beings not law experts so just because a judge instructs them not to use something against a defendant it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't place doubts in his mind.

The sense behind saying 'no comment' is often up for debate.
Many will argue that it should be followed each and every time. Others will argue that a full and frank interview is the best way to go.
In legal terms, it shouldn't go against him. But I hope he has a good defence team on side who specialise in sexual crimes because a rape trial is very much different to that of any other trial.
it is really the only trial that can go ahead with just one word against the other.

In terms of my own experience...I wasn't charged so saying 'No Comment' wasa good move for me. I can't say for sure whether it would have went against me had I gone to court, but my solicitor, Chris Saltrese (who is widely regarded as one of the best in this field) told me that it wouldn't go against me in any real way.

Thank you for that, that is one thing he has been very worried about, so i can try to explain it does not mean the worst,

[0505]

This is a very common trick that the CPS use but in actual fact, there is nothing they can do to stop someone standing for the defense. They make out that they can however and that's what stops a lot of people.
I think I have that right anyway but someone please correct me if I am mistaken.

i was told by his lawyer that he is not allowed to speak to me without the police present, as i was 'the other side' but if he needed to call me (on the stand) he still could? and if i had anything that was helpful for them they could use it?

[Faith]

I am a bit concerned that the accused person is not getting this advice from his solicitor. I hope he has a specialist solicitor and barrister who are experienced in dealing with cases of alleged sexual crime.

If he has any other doubts about his case, he should try and run it past his legal team.

[Faith]

i was told by his lawyer that he is not allowed to speak to me without the police present, as i was 'the other side' but if he needed to call me he still could? and if i had anything that was helpful for them they could use it?

Yes that is my understanding that the CPS cannot stop you from speaking for the defense.

[0505]

I am a bit concerned that the accused person is not getting this advice from his solicitor. I hope he has a specialist solicitor and barrister who are experienced in dealing with cases of alleged sexual crime.

If he has any other doubts about his case, he should try and run it past his legal team.

To be honest none of us have faith in his lawyer, he has been held on remand in prison for over 5 months with nothing except her word. he has amitted to concensual sex she had no injurys at all and he handing himself in on hearing she had said he had raped her, but he was not even allowed bail.

[0505]

Faith do you know if there is a way i could check his lawyer ?

[Faith]

What do you mean by 'check' his lawyer?
There's no service that tells you who is rubbish or not.
Have you checked his website...how many success stories does he have and is he a specialist?
If the accused has no faith in his legal team, why on earth is he sticking with them?
This is the fight of his life and he only gets one stab at it. If he is convicted, it is notoriously difficult to lodge an appeal

[0505]

What do you mean by 'check' his lawyer?
There's no service that tells you who is rubbish or not.
Have you checked his website...how many success stories does he have and is he a specialist?
If the accused has no faith in his legal team, why on earth is he sticking with them?
This is the fight of his life and he only gets one stab at it. If he is convicted, it is notoriously difficult to lodge an appeal

sorry i meant check as in to find out if he is a specialist, i have just looked at his card, and it said he is Position: Duty Solicitor and it mentions two cases? i am sorry i know it sounds like i am thick but i just dont know about these things and neither does he, thats why i have come here to try to find out, i think its to late now, his trial is next week.
we have always felt his lawyer did not 'do enough' but he seems to tell 'partner' what he needs to hear and he does not know any diffrent i think? We need help i am very worried now about him. i dont mean to sound so dumb