Huntley's case was clear-cut.He WAS found guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the monster in those terrible murders,but one juror decided to be different Why ?
Does this prove that some people are totally unsuitable ?
When I was on jury service I must admit that I had the shakes. I listened carefully in court, but I could not make a decision based on my own thoughts. I suppose this is why we get shunted to a private room to discuss what had been said in court. We worked as a team, but I did not have a great deal of input.
Both cases were clear cut, both defendants were found guilty. I did feel sorry for one of them. His family were in court along with his young son who was about 11 years old. The son had taken the witness stand to say he was playing football with his father in the rain and this is why his fathers jeans were covered in mud. The lad clearly lied and it was awful to see that he loved his father dearly.
The lads father had been fighting on the ground with a police officer and that is how his jeans got muddy. The police found the muddy jeans at the bottom of a wash basket, there were no muddy clothes found from his son. The police identified the man who was caught robbing a cigarette machine inside a working mans club.
When the verdict was read out his family started to cry and it was that, that upset me.
The judge then read out all the past crimes of the man....he clearly had a bad record of thieving. I could not help but fill up when I saw his son cry. It made me feel guilty, but at the end of the day his father let alone his mother should never have allowed that little lad to give evidence or put him through such an ordeal.