Pryce Trial: Jury's Questions
Updated: 3:58pm UK, Wednesday 20 February 2013
Here are the 10 questions the jury in the Vicky Pryce case put to the judge on Tuesday.
1. Can a juror come to a verdict based on a reason that was not presented in court and has no facts or evidence to support it, either from the prosecution or defence?."
Judge: "No."
2. "Can you speculate about the events at the time Ms Pryce signed the form or what was in her mind at that time?"
Judge: "No."
3. "If there is debatable evidence supporting the prosecution's case, can inferences be drawn to arrive at a verdict?"
Judge: "The drawing of inferences is a permissible process, speculation is not."
4. Can we infer anything from the fact that the defence did not bring witnesses from the time of the alleged offence, such as an au pair or neighbours?
Judge: "You must not speculate on what witnesses who have not been called might have said or draw inferences from their absence. Her evidence is that no one else, other than Mr Huhne, was present when she signed the form."
5. Is the defendant obliged to present a defence?
The judge said: "There is no burden on the defendant to prove her innocence. On the contrary there is no burden on the defendant to prove anything at all."
6. Can you define "reasonable doubt"?
The judge replied: "A reasonable doubt is a doubt which is reasonable."These are ordinary English words that the law doesn't allow me to help you with beyond the written directions that I have already given."
7. Can you expand on the definition of the defence of marital coercion, providing examples, and whether it requires violence or physical acts?
The judge said it did not require violence or physical threats and meant a woman was so affected by pressure from her husband that she was "impelled" to commit an offence and truly believed she had no real choice.
8. Would religious conviction be a good enough reason for a wife to feel she had no choice, because she promised to obey her husband in wedding vows?
The judge said the question was not about the case, and Pryce had not suggested any such reasoning was behind her decision to take Huhne's points.
9. Which facts in the court bundle can we consider when reaching a verdict?
The judge said: "You decide the case on the evidence. That means it is for you to review all of the evidence and decide which of it you consider to be important, truthful and reliable, and then decide what conclusions, common sense conclusions, you can safely draw by way of inference from that evidence."
10. "In the scenario where the defendant may be guilty but there is not enough evidence provided by the prosecution at the material time when she signed the Notice of Intended Prosecution between May 3-7, 2003, to feel sure beyond reasonable doubt, what should the verdict be, not guilty or unable/unsafe to provide a verdict?"
The judge told them they could only convict if at least 10 of them were sure Pryce was guilty.
He added: "If for whatever reason any one or more of you feel less than confident that you understand and are able to apply my directions of law then it will be wholly wrong for any juror in that position to reach a verdict one way or the other.
"If after further consideration you find yourselves in a position that you are simply not able to agree no matter how much longer you continue to debate and that's going to remain the position, then you must of course have the courage to say so by your foreman sending me a note to that effect."
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