MiaK 🏴 🇵🇸MiaMarkTwo@syzito.xyz
Jul 3, 2026, 1:44 PM🥳 ✊ 🌍
If you're in any doubt about why our fascist government is trying to remove the right to jury trials ...
Replies
Son of a GeorgeSon_of_a_George@thecanadian.socialJul 3, 2026, 7:07 PM@MiaMarkTwo An old criminal lawyer friend used to say juries weren’t there to see if a crime had been committed. They were there to see if this wrong should be righted.
- MiaK 🏴 🇵🇸MiaMarkTwo@syzito.xyzJul 3, 2026, 7:24 PM
@Son_of_a_George I don't exactly know what that means, but it sounds rather too idealistic and naive for a criminal barrister. They're there to weigh evidence and decide culpability, nothing more, but they should be in *full possession* of what their own rights are in the determination of those facts.
- Son of a GeorgeSon_of_a_George@thecanadian.socialJul 4, 2026, 10:44 PM
@MiaMarkTwo He did his share of jury trials and my dad sat as a juror on at least 5, maybe 6 or 7 trials. I think my friend got it right.
- Son of a GeorgeSon_of_a_George@thecanadian.socialJul 4, 2026, 10:46 PM
@MiaMarkTwo Explain the jury acquittals, then, of Henry Morgentaler? The pro Palestine protesters in the UK? Juries get it right.
Jul 3, 2026, 7:20 PM@MiaMarkTwo jury trials are not even an instant "get out of jail free" card as I'd been following Court cases of those releasing beagles from animal testing labs in East Anglia - all defendants had jury trials (there were multiple due to number of arrests) but some were acquitted and others found guilty and there seemed to be no pattern to the results...
However any reasonable person should clearly realise a slow protest in a heavily congested city where you can't even drive >20 mph, which MetPol made worse by arresting folk in middle of live lanes is really not a major disruption to this country (far worse disruption happens at normal rush hour in my region every other day)
- MiaK 🏴 🇵🇸MiaMarkTwo@syzito.xyzJul 3, 2026, 7:31 PM
@vfrmedia Why would there be a pattern to the results? The verdicts are entirely dependent on twelve individual people, their understanding of the facts, more numinous factors like their mood on the day or how they interact with their fellow jury members ...
Unless someone's died, my view is any attempt at prosecution for protesting is abhorrent.
- Jul 3, 2026, 7:37 PM
@MiaMarkTwo I'd wondered if the fact that beagles are cute and even normie folk on places like Nextdoor are often more sympathetic to bending rules / social boundaries to save animals might have skewed jurors views more than other criminal cases, but it was not the case.
I was called up for jury service myself in 2023, and I will be brutally honest that the amount of disruption it caused to my life would mean unless it was something like non violent protesting I'd find it hard to avoid not being more inclined to find the defendant guilty, as other than the protest cases (which are not that common in East Anglia) you don't get hauled up before Crown Court for nothing..
(I didn't get allocated to any case in the end)
- MiaK 🏴 🇵🇸MiaMarkTwo@syzito.xyzJul 3, 2026, 7:41 PM
@vfrmedia Well, I think you've just explained very clearly why you shouldn't ever be on a jury. You'd be inclined to find someone guilty because a thing you'd agreed to do in the first place caused you some personal inconvenience?!?? People don't get taken to court unless they're already (more ikely to be) guilty? WTF is that?
What you seem to be saying is animal rights protesters deserve different treatment to everyone else, when the truth is they're some of the most violent. - Jul 3, 2026, 7:48 PM
@MiaMarkTwo I didn't agree to be on the jury, I had no choice as I'd risk being nicked otherwise! There was a big warning about this on my call up letter..
Hence my annoyance at being called up (which happened at a particularly busy time during my work)
I personally feel jury service should be voluntary, but there's the risk its skewed to certain sections of society.
I follow crime reports and Court cases since 30+ years (once wanted to be a crime reporter, and other than the politically motivated prosecutions its rare for a case to go to Crown Court without it being a serious offence and a large amount of evidence against the defendant, most crimes end up at Magistrates or even with Cautions or other community penalties).
- Jul 3, 2026, 7:51 PM
@MiaMarkTwo As for some animal rights protesters being violent, I'm aware of this from my days during the anti CJA protests and the underground raves, as I encountered quite a few lads who latched on to that scene specifically to get into conflicts, and most likely because there are more girls attracted to it than sportstball hooliganism.
However those releasing the beagles weren't exactly violent, although they did commit offences of criminal damage and burglary...
- Jul 3, 2026, 7:55 PM
@MiaMarkTwo it is also extremely difficult to get out of jury service in England and Wales (might be easier in Scotland), as I remember when I was discussing this in 2023 a mutual who had a lot of trauma and mental heath issues wanted to be excused but there would have been no way for her to do that until she was called up - she would have had to provide HMCTS with a lot of her confidential medical information, and even then it wouldn't guarantee she would have been excused.
Some jurors do get lifetime exclusions but only after dealing with particularly unpleasant murder / sexual offence cases..