A future in the hands 12 of people.

You may realise that the heading refers to a jury, and how a persons whole future may rest in their hands. Such is the situation facing the client on whose case I have been outdoor clerking this past week.

As some of you may have read in my introduction I am working as an outdoor clerk during my summer holiday before returning as a second year. I will be posting more about outdoor clerking later.

The trial started last Monday and was due to finish today with the jury giving its verdict. Unfortunately this has not happened and the jury have spent nearly seven hours deliberating already.

The case concerns consent, and whether or not the complainant gave it. At no time has the defendant denied having sex with the girl, and maintains that she asked him for sex. However the complainant had been out drinking previously to the incident, and had been taken to hospital after being punched. The defendant was working as a security guard at the hospital and was asked by the complainant to walk with her to the cash point to get some money as she did not know where the ATM was, and it was very late at night/early in the morning. Add to this the fact that she had been crying for most of the night in A+E and that CCTV shows her account of the events to be incorrect at important moments, you begin to understand what a difficult case this is for a jury to really decide what really happened.

This is the first time I have been involved so closely with a case and it is very difficult trying to answer the questions of the defendant on how it is going, because it really could go either way. I have been very lucky to have an excellent Barrister with me who has been really involving me in the case rather than just using me as a cheaply paid note taker (although taking a record of all the evidence of witnesses is a big part of the job. My poor wrist).

I hope to be able to post the verdict tomorrow so watch this space. I may use it as a lead in to my piece on clerking. I am still getting the hang of this so please bear with me.