Greedy Trial Lawyer
A Little Jury Music, Please
Category: Gaming The System
"Jury No. 3, are you tapping your feet?"
Murder juror 'listened to music under hijab'
A juror could face an unlimited jail sentence after she was arrested for allegedly listening to an MP3 player under her headscarf during a murder trial.The judge at London's Blackfriars Crown Court thought he heard "tinny music" during the testimony of a man who brutally beat his disabled wife to death.
The Muslim woman in her early twenties, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had repeatedly tried to avoid jury service.
She was finally ordered to serve on the jury in the trial of pensioner Alan Wicks who was subsequently convicted of bludgeoning his wife to death after 50 years of marriage.
Problems started the next day with the first of a number of late arrivals at court, prompting Judge Roger Chapple to repeatedly ask her to change her ways.
The woman not only continued to be late, but left lawyers wondering whether she was "in a world of her own".
a member of the defence team thought she caught a glimpse of a wire under the woman's traditional Muslim hijab.
Finally, another woman juror sent the judge a note, which apparently confirmed his suspicions that the juror had been secretly listening to music instead of following the trial.
After further legal submissions, the Muslim juror was called into court on her own and informed of the allegation.
The judge warned that her behaviour, if proved, would not just give "cause for concern" but would amount to "contempt of court".
He also told her she would be arrested. A police officer then stepped forward and escorted her from court. Outside, she was searched and the MP3 player found and confiscated.
In the old days we only found booze and pornographic novels.
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