"Ishtar" wrote in message
news:cc85e195-58c7-4552-b6a2-6d1d41c5badd@i36g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> On 8 Apr, 16:00, "Fergus O'Rourke" wrote:
>> Special.Car...@googlemail.com wrote:
>>
>> [snip]> If we say a man has been wrongly convicted, we are also saying
>> > directly or by implication that the person(s) responsible for
>> > convicting him is either (a) incompetent or (b) corrupt.
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>> Non sequitur.
>> --
>> FERGUS O'ROURKEwww.irish-lawyer.com
>> (Not just law stuff)
>
> =================================================
>
> All right; other factors could be in play. For example, Judith Ward,
> an English girl, was mentally unstable and had a fixation on Irish
> politics and history. She apparently volunteered a vague semblance of
> a confession to the motorway coach bombing.
Apart from the defendant confessing to a crime of which she was innocent,
there are far more likely scenarios to consider - such as the expert and lay
evidence being sufficient to persuade a jury that the defendant was in fact
guilty.
Witnesses can be doing their best, yet have inaccurate memories or draw
inaccurate conclusions from what they have seen.
> The major point being made was that if we want to move in the
> direction of a fair society with some semblance of justice in the waye
> we deal with suspected criminals, then we must treat allegations of
> corruption against cops as a special case, exempt from libel actions
> by the said cops.
Rubbish.
Allegations of corruption can be made, without fear of retribution, to the
IPCC or can be presented to an appellate court. What isn't allowed is to
make outrageous and fanciful allegations by way of a fishing expedition to
see if anyone else will come up with evidence to support your theory of
corruption, or in the hope that the officer will be so impressed with your
rhetoric that he will break down and confess to being corrupt.
> Otherwise how can we fight effectively to overturn
> wrongful convictions?
We? Who's this "we"? You can't fight effectively to overturn a conviction
unless you have some relevant qualifications and experience, and I really
don't think you should get involved in the fight lest you make a fool of
yourself.
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