Inmates Running the Asylum

Apparently they are over in England. Check this out this story.

Note: if you click the above link, it will take you to the article on the UK website, The Sun. I felt that in order to stay within legal boundaries, I needed to link back to it. However, there are a lot of "distractions" on the site, so I've copied the story below, too.

Judge throws out robbery case: Victim is too HONEST
By JOHN COLES
Published: 14 Jan 2009

A DRIVING instructor robbed by savages as she gave a lesson was branded too GOOD a witness by a judge — who THREW OUT the case against a yob she identified. Beaten-up Denise Dawson, 36 — whose nose was broken by a gang that
surrounded her car — was hailed by Judge Jamie Tabor QC as “honest, utterly
decent and brave.”

But amazingly he ruled that her evidence against a lout she picked out in an ID parade was so compelling it would unfairly sway the jury. He awarded the mum of two £250 for her courage — but let accused robber Liam Perks, 20, walk free. Judge Tabor declared: “The jury may lend more weight to her evidence than her facts allow. You cannot be sure she got it right.”

He added bizarrely: “Had this been the Archbishop of Canterbury’s son, would I have allowed (the trial) to go on? The answer is no.”

Horrified Denise said afterwards: “I felt sick. What more can I do? I positively identified someone from a video ID parade and was prepared to risk everything in
going to court. But it’s still not enough.”

Denise, of Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, was practising hill starts with Jodie Dickinson, 26, when the thugs swooped.

One yob smashed her Ford Focus’s rear window with a brick and grabbed her laptop and £80 cash.

Denise told Bristol Crown Court others punched her in the face and stole her mobile.

Prosecutor Ed Burgess said Denise told cops at the ID parade: “It’s No7. I know that face. It made my stomach go over.”

The jury heard Perks, of Henbury, Bristol, is awaiting sentence for conspiracy to burgle.

Last year Judge Tabor, 57, handed a suspended sentence to a wife who gave her cheating husband rat poison.

The dad of three also freed a pervert choirmaster, saying his 11-year-old victim
seemed to “enjoy” being abused.

The Crown Prosecution Service defended the latest ruling — saying it too felt there was insufficient evidence against Perks.

But Labour MP Dan Norris said: “It’s bonkers. The message to
criminals is if it’s your word against theirs, no matter how trustworthy they
are you are likely to get away with it.”
j.coles@the-sun.co.uk

At least the people who left comments seem to be in their right mind. I can just imagine "Honest Abe's" testimony being thrown out at John Wilkes Booth's trial. (I know that Lincoln died and Booth was later shot, I'm just sayin'.)

So the moral of the story seems to be, don't be so convincing in your convictions, because you might not be right and irresponsibly lead others astray.

Barf.

Oh, God, help us to redeem the day!