No-Eyes Surprise!
Many thanks to a reader for this story. A man with no eyes has pled Not Guilty to dangerous driving.
That's all that really needs to be said, but it has made me wonder once more about our court system.
In the past I have expressed sarcastic thoughts about the courts on this blog. This was very wrong of me. In fact, I love my court warnings and cherish them. Without them, I would have no break from my unceasing cycle of nights, nights, lates, earlies and nights again, and would have to book annual leave to get time off.
Instead, every two or three weeks I have a day out. The average court warning usually falls on a rest day and appears in my inbox during a weekend off, to be read just a couple of days before the court date. This makes for double pay. If I do happen to see it over five days before the court date, I quickly make a call to IT services claiming that my email has gone down, I have forgotten my password, or that my eyes were blown out in a bomb and I need to have all my court warnings sent to me on tape. This ensures that I am never warned more than a few days before court.
Then comes the happy day. I roll out of bed at 8 or 9, have a leisurely breakfast. Sometimes I even get to iron a shirt. Then comes the first voicemail check. If that is clear, I begin to stroll towards the court. Very often the phonecall telling me that the case has been cancelled will strike just as I enter the court building. If not, I order a few cups of tea from the Witness Service and watch a couple of lawyers running about for an hour or so. I might read a gossip magazine if I feel like it, and find that the woman who wouldn't give me a statement last year has sold her story of domestic violence to "Talk!" and has now murdered the bastard.
At about eleven o'clock comes the first visit from the CPS. "Is the victim coming?" "Where's the transcript of the interview?" "Was there CCTV or not?"
I have no idea, being just the dogsbody who arrested the guy and handed over a pile of paper to someone else. The officer who actually knows these details has not been asked to show up and is sunning him/herself in the Carribbean with his/her phone switched off. After another hour, the Magistrate or District Judge gets fed up and bins the job and I am sent home with apologies and a feeling that it is somehow once again the police's fault.
In the unlikely event that all witnesses turn up and the CPS haven't lost part of the file, the eleven o'clock visit will follow the lines of, "He might be about to change his plea." This is because the defence barrister has realised that time has run out and his client is about to be found guilty by irrefutable evidence that they have known about for six months. A plea bargain is agreed by twelve and once again I can go home. This time everyone is happy, including the defendant.
About once a year I end up sitting at court all day only to be told at about 4pm that there is no time to hold the trial. Or that the guy pled guilty at 10am and no one bothered to tell me. Even so, it is still 6 hours work for 8 hours double time, so who's complaining.
God Bless Court Warnings.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright of PC Bloggs
That's all that really needs to be said, but it has made me wonder once more about our court system.
In the past I have expressed sarcastic thoughts about the courts on this blog. This was very wrong of me. In fact, I love my court warnings and cherish them. Without them, I would have no break from my unceasing cycle of nights, nights, lates, earlies and nights again, and would have to book annual leave to get time off.
Instead, every two or three weeks I have a day out. The average court warning usually falls on a rest day and appears in my inbox during a weekend off, to be read just a couple of days before the court date. This makes for double pay. If I do happen to see it over five days before the court date, I quickly make a call to IT services claiming that my email has gone down, I have forgotten my password, or that my eyes were blown out in a bomb and I need to have all my court warnings sent to me on tape. This ensures that I am never warned more than a few days before court.
Then comes the happy day. I roll out of bed at 8 or 9, have a leisurely breakfast. Sometimes I even get to iron a shirt. Then comes the first voicemail check. If that is clear, I begin to stroll towards the court. Very often the phonecall telling me that the case has been cancelled will strike just as I enter the court building. If not, I order a few cups of tea from the Witness Service and watch a couple of lawyers running about for an hour or so. I might read a gossip magazine if I feel like it, and find that the woman who wouldn't give me a statement last year has sold her story of domestic violence to "Talk!" and has now murdered the bastard.
At about eleven o'clock comes the first visit from the CPS. "Is the victim coming?" "Where's the transcript of the interview?" "Was there CCTV or not?"
I have no idea, being just the dogsbody who arrested the guy and handed over a pile of paper to someone else. The officer who actually knows these details has not been asked to show up and is sunning him/herself in the Carribbean with his/her phone switched off. After another hour, the Magistrate or District Judge gets fed up and bins the job and I am sent home with apologies and a feeling that it is somehow once again the police's fault.
In the unlikely event that all witnesses turn up and the CPS haven't lost part of the file, the eleven o'clock visit will follow the lines of, "He might be about to change his plea." This is because the defence barrister has realised that time has run out and his client is about to be found guilty by irrefutable evidence that they have known about for six months. A plea bargain is agreed by twelve and once again I can go home. This time everyone is happy, including the defendant.
About once a year I end up sitting at court all day only to be told at about 4pm that there is no time to hold the trial. Or that the guy pled guilty at 10am and no one bothered to tell me. Even so, it is still 6 hours work for 8 hours double time, so who's complaining.
Of 15 court attendances/warnings this year, can anyone guess how many times I have given evidence? In case anyone thinks 15 is a lot, I have 10 more before the end of the year.
God Bless Court Warnings.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright of PC Bloggs
posted by PC Bloggs at 19:53
9 Comments:
My guess is zero, nil, none, and I claim the prize.
After all most cases that get to he lower courts are stonewallers. In which case (as you say) a plea bargain gets ...
1 The solicitor his fee without spoiling his golf in the afternoon.
2 The CPS lawyer a result without using up court time.
3 The accused a lesser charge dropped. ( in most cases it it will make little difference to his sentece but he feels he's winning)
4 The police get to enjoy the rest of their days off
In Scotland some fiscals (CPS equiv) consult the police and witnesses before dropping any charges. I have never yet heard a cop say "no I would prefer it to go to trial on all charges"
05 September, 2006 23:01
To give another perspective, as a Special I have to take leave from work which then makes the inevitable aborted trials (which follow exactly the pattern you outline) hugely frustrating. I don't get double time, just grief from my day-job for yet another day missed from work for no reason...
06 September, 2006 08:18
I can say that I have given evidence at Crown Court twice this year. Both times were some twat appealing against his conviction that the magistrates gave for the crime of the century.
Parking offences!!!
One was a disabled badge holder that was under the misconception that his badge gave him the authority to park where ever the hell he wanted. Turned out to be a bloody expensive day out for him.
As you can imagine it was a pretty frustrating to have to go to the big court for such a crap reason.
06 September, 2006 22:28
Don't worry Mate, its the same the world over.
We get the same sort of B/S here in New Zealand, except we don't get paid overtime!
07 September, 2006 09:16
I had the joy of going to crown court on annual once, when I was 175 miles away, helping my now wife pack up her life to move in with me. The phone call was Friday 4pm, and I was due in court Monday morning. The joy came from the fact that on Sunday night, I was driving back down home anyway with a car boot full of stuff and a goldfish. I was in Crown Court for precisely 15 minutes before the case was dropped (It was an aggravated burglary, where one of the witnesses was rather ropey, but to be fair, the CPS had him for Sn 18 wounding x 3 also). Net cost to the job, £120 for petrol that I would have spent anyway, and about £125 for the minimum 5 hours double bubble. At a rough estimate, I make that about £1,000 per hour. God bless Crown Court!
08 September, 2006 18:53
on that I would say give evidence once.
Unless you are a station intox operator then it would be 4 because we obvioulsy never tell people why they are under arrest and thats why they fail to provide.
09 September, 2006 11:27
I have received about 20 court warnings over a period of one year - out of these I have ended up giving evidence three times; Twice concerning the same fella - first trial & re-trial, and the third time I was in court giving evidence for the offence of no insurance (!) to which the fella didn't even bother to turn up! (oh, and the court officials only told me that at 4pm...). AS you said, majority of my court appearances have ended up being turn up at the court - the defendant sees that all the witnesses are there and then promptly pleads guilty!
09 September, 2006 23:39
成人電影,情色,本土自拍, 一夜情, 辣妹視訊, 視訊聊天室, 免費視訊聊天, 免費視訊, 視訊, 視訊美女, 美女視訊, 視訊交友, 視訊聊天, 免費視訊聊天室, 情人視訊網影音視訊聊天室, 視訊交友90739, 成人影片, 成人交友, 本土自拍, 免費A片下載, 性愛,
成人交友, 嘟嘟成人網, 成人電影, 成人, 成人貼圖, 成人小說, 成人文章, 成人圖片區, 免費成人影片, 成人遊戲, 微風成人, 愛情公寓, 情色, 情色貼圖, 情色文學, 做愛, 色情聊天室, 美女交友,
嘟嘟成人網, 成人貼圖, 成人電影, A片, 豆豆聊天室, 聊天室, UT聊天室, 尋夢園聊天室, 男同志聊天室, UT男同志聊天室, 聊天室尋夢園, 080聊天室, 080苗栗人聊天室, 6K聊天室, 女同志聊天室, 小高聊天室, 情色論壇, 色情網站, 成人網站, 成人論壇, 免費A片, 上班族聊天室, 成人聊天室, 成人小說, 微風成人區, 色美媚部落格, 成人文章, 成人圖片區, 免費成人影片, 成人論壇, 情色聊天室, 寄情築園小遊戲, AV女優,成人電影,情色,本土自拍, A片下載, 日本A片, 麗的色遊戲, 色色網, ,嘟嘟情人色網, 色情網站, 成人網站, 正妹牆, 正妹百人斬, aio,伊莉, 伊莉討論區, 成人遊戲, 成人影城,
ut聊天室, 免費A片, AV女優, 美女視訊, 情色交友, 免費AV, 色情網站, 辣妹視訊, 美女交友, 色情影片 成人影片, 成人網站, A片,H漫, 18成人, 成人圖片, 成人漫畫, 情色網, 日本A片,
愛情公寓, 情色, 舊情人, 情色貼圖, 情色文學, 情色交友, 色情聊天室, 色情小說, 一葉情貼圖片區, 情色小說, 色情, 色情遊戲, 情色視訊, 情色電影, aio交友愛情館, 色情a片, 色情小說, 一葉情貼圖片區, 情色小說, 色情, 寄情築園小遊戲, 色情遊戲情色視訊, 情色電影, aio交友愛情館, 言情小說, 愛情小說, 色情A片, 情色論壇, 色情影片, 視訊聊天室, 免費視訊聊天, 免費視訊, 視訊美女, 視訊交友, 視訊聊天, 免費視訊聊天室, a片下載, aV, av片, A漫, av dvd, av成人網, 聊天室, 成人論壇, 本土自拍, 自拍, A片,成人電影,情色,本土自拍,
03 April, 2009 18:27
爆爆爽a片免費看, 天堂私服論壇, 情色電影下載, 成人短片, 麗的線上情色小遊戲, 情色動畫免費下載, 日本女優, 小說論壇, 777成人區, showlive影音聊天網, 聊天室尋夢園, 義大利女星寫真集, 韓國a片, 熟女人妻援交, 0204成人, 性感內衣模特兒, 影片, 情色卡通, 85cc免費影城85cc, 本土自拍照片, 成人漫畫區, 18禁, 情人節阿性, 做愛的漫畫圖片, 情色電影分享區, 做愛ㄉ影片, 丁字褲美女寫真, 色美眉, 自拍俱樂部首頁, 日本偷自拍圖片, 色情做愛影片, 情色貼圖區, 八國聯軍情色網, 免費線上a片, 淫蕩女孩自拍, 美國a片, 都都成人站, 色情自拍, 本土自拍照片, 熊貓貼圖區, 色情影片, 5278影片網, 脫星寫真圖片, 粉喵聊天室, 金瓶梅18, sex888影片分享區, 1007視訊, 雙贏論壇,
免費成人影音, 彩虹自拍, 小魔女貼影片, 自拍裸體寫真, 禿頭俱樂部, 環球av影音城, 學生色情聊天室, 視訊美女, 辣妹情色圖, 性感卡通美女圖片, 影音, 情色照片 做愛, hilive tv , 忘年之交聊天室, 制服美女, 性感辣妹, ut 女同聊天室, 淫蕩自拍, 處女貼圖貼片區, 聊天ukiss tw, 亞亞成人館, 777成人, 秋瓷炫裸體寫真, 淫蕩天使貼圖, 十八禁成人影音, 禁地論壇, 洪爺淫蕩自拍, 秘書自拍圖片,
aaaa片, 免費聊天, 咆哮小老鼠影片分享區, 金瓶梅影片, av女優王國, 78論壇, 女同聊天室, 熟女貼圖, 1069壞朋友論壇gay, 淫蕩少女總部, 日本情色派, 平水相逢, 黑澀會美眉無名, 網路小說免費看, 999東洋成人, 免費視訊聊天, 情色電影分享區, 9k躺伯虎聊天室, 傑克論壇, 日本女星杉本彩寫真, 自拍電影免費下載, a片論壇, 情色短片試看, 素人自拍寫真,
15 April, 2009 08:28
Post a Comment
<< Home