Jury nullification (US/UK),jury equity (UK),or a perverse verdict (UK) occurs when the jury in a criminal trial gives a not guilty verdict regardless of whether they believe a defendant has broken the law. The jury's reasons may include the belief that the law itself is unjust,that the prosecutor has misapplied the law in the defendant's case,that the punishment for breaking the law is too harsh,or general frustrations with the criminal justice system. Some juries have also refused to convict due to their own prejudices in favor of the defendant. Such verdicts are possible because a jury has an absolute right to return any verdict it chooses.
The Crown Court is the criminal court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences,some either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and Wales.
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
Sir Adrian Bruce Fulford is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal. From 2017 to 2019,he was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner,and was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal in 2019,succeeding Lady Justice Hallett.
Sir Nigel Hamilton Sweeney KC,styled The Hon. Mr Justice Sweeney,was a High Court judge. He retired on 18 March 2023.
Walter "Johnny D." McMillian was a pulpwood worker from Monroeville,Alabama,who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His conviction was wrongfully obtained,based on police coercion and perjury. In the 1988 trial,under a controversial Alabama doctrine called "judicial override",the judge imposed the death penalty,although the jury had voted for a sentence of life imprisonment.
Sir Colman Maurice Treacy is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal. Previously,he was a barrister in Birmingham. He presided over a number of criminal trials,including those of an Afghan warlord,Faryadi Sarwar Zardad,and two of the killers of Stephen Lawrence.
Choor Singh Sidhu,known professionally as Choor Singh,was a Singaporean lawyer who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and,particularly after his retirement from the bench,a philanthropist and writer of books about Sikhism. Born to a family of modest means in Punjab,India,he came to Singapore at four years of age. He completed his secondary education in the top class at Raffles Institution in 1929,then worked as a clerk in a law firm before becoming a civil servant in the Official Assignee's office.
The courts of assize,or assizes,were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972,when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes exercised both civil and criminal jurisdiction,though most of their work was on the criminal side. The assizes heard the most serious cases,most notably those subject to capital punishment or,later,life imprisonment. Other serious cases were dealt with by the quarter sessions,while the more minor offences were dealt with summarily by justices of the peace in petty sessions.
John Harris Byrne is a retired Australian jurist who previously served as Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Having been a judge of that court since 1989,he was one of the court's most experienced judges. He was also Chair of the National Judicial College of Australia,a body which provides programs and professional development resources to judicial officers in Australia. He is now a private Commercial Arbitrator.
Sir Richard Somers Travers Christmas Humphreys was a noted British barrister and judge who,during a sixty-year legal career,was involved in the cases of Oscar Wilde and the murderers Hawley Harvey Crippen,George Joseph Smith and John George Haigh,the 'Acid Bath Murderer',among many others.
Sir John Griffith Williams is a retired Welsh judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He retired from the High Court with effect from 21 December 2014.
Sir Timothy Victor Holroyde,PC,styled The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Holroyde,is an English Court of Appeal judge,formerly a judge of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales,Queen's Bench Division. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in October 2017. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 2017. In 2015 he was appointed a member of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales,and served as its Chairman between 2018 and 2022. In June 2022 he was appointed Vice-President of the Court of Appeal,succeeding Lord Justice Fulford.
Sir Alan Fraser Wilkie,styled The Honourable Mr Justice Wilkie,is a former British judge and barrister. He retired on 31 January 2017.
Sir Robin Godfrey Spencer,is a former judge of the High Court of England and Wales.
Sir David Michael Bean is a British judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
Dame Kathryn Mary Thirlwall,DBE,styled The Rt Hon Lady Justice Thirlwall,is an English judge of the Court of Appeal,and since December 2019 is the Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales. She practised as a barrister from 1982,was a High Court judge from April 2010,and was promoted to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in February 2017.
Lucy Letby is a British former neonatal nurse who murdered seven infants and attempted the murder of six others between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby was the focus of suspicion following a high number of infant deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital,shortly after she was qualified to work with children in the hospital's intensive care unit,and owing to her being on duty whenever suspicious incidents took place.
Todd J. McCarthy is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has been the Ontario Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery since September 22,2023. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party,McCarthy was elected in the 2022 provincial election to represent Durham in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
