Random Justice.

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis

Tuesday November 16, 2004 18:25

by L.

anybody got similar stories & queries?

outside the trial of 2 mayday arrestees last wed. i talked to a young guy who told me:

"tIn court he judge said to me "Where are you from?"
" I said Dublin 22."
"He said so you get 22 months & the whole court laughed."

a friend of mine was in court last week where the judge told a defendant to take his hands out of his pockets saying :
"That's what's gone wrong with this country !"

the courts i sat in were parodies where the lawyers, guards & judges carried on a show which the defendants had no part in.

another friend now has a legal aid lawyer who tells all their clients to plead guilty because they specialize in plea bargaining.

for mayday protestors the choice was stark.
plead guilty & get a fine & no permanent record as long as they "stay out of trouble" or get dragged through the courts endlessly while signing on in a garda station up to 3 times a week.

the victory last wed. was when 2 Mayday arrestees had the case against them thrown out of court because there was no evidence and that was according to the judge.
the 2 defendants had had their passports taken and one had been kept in Dublin for 6 months awaiting trial without being able to go home to London on a charge for which there was no evidence. How?

the dismissal of the case showed that it is worth hanging in there & showing the police that they cannot intimidate people, deny them basic rights, refuse to tell them what they're being charged with, refuse them phone calls & access to lawyers etc. & invent evidence, not even get their story straight & still hope for a conviction.

unfortunately the sloppiness displayed in court suggests that the gardai generally expect exactly that & in fact the verdict rests entirely with a judge, & on the mood they happen to be in that day & on the lawyer's competence & not on the facts of a case.

there doesn't appear to be any kind of watchdog to check judge's verdicts & publicize the more bizarre ones & so no motivation for judges to give consistent verdicts. does anyone know of a watchdog organizaton?

2 out of 3 of the judges i've heard made cheap wisecracks to humiliate the defendants & get a laugh from the court & their name in the paper. while i can understand the need for comic relief with a job like that, it's incredibly unprofessional.

my suggestion is random monitoring & publicising what happens in irish courtrooms, as much as is possible depending on numbers.not just in politcal cases but in general.
having someone taking notes changes the dynamic & keeps everyone involved on their toes as well as giving support to defendants.
we filled the courtroom last wed. to support our friends.

i'm not suggesting everyone is innocent but everyone has the right to common respect & dignity rather than being bullied .