"Somehow I got too close to him..."

[ufkacbln]

Common sense? Unless we are expecting all guilty defendants to just 'fess up at the start of the case, then we can presume at some point they are lying. Wasting a bunch of money for a perjury prosecution to add a few months to someone's sentence is not going to act as a deterrent on this, I wouldn't have thought.

So at what point does lying become perjury?

 

[briantrumpet]

So at what point does lying become perjury?

I would guess that most of the conflicting testimonies would be hard to prove that it wasn't faulty memory (I'm reading a book at the moment, The Idiot Brain, which is dealing with how our brains alter memories without our consent, plus, of course, there's The Invisible Gorilla). I think where it turns into perjury when someone makes a definitive statement about personal circumstances where they have with forethought tried to mislead the judge and jury, either in the case itself, or in the sentencing.

 

[DaveReading]

I think they add that bit on for pleading 'not guilty', people do seem to get a lighter sentence if they plead guilty at the start.

Other way round. The sentence that is handed down is reduced if the defendant has pleaded guilty, with the amount of the reduction dependent on how early the guilty plea is received.

Some defendants only change their plea to guilty on the day of the trial, having waited in the hope that witnesses might not show up and the case then collapses.

 

[mjr]

Some defendants only change their plea to guilty on the day of the trial, having waited in the hope that witnesses might not show up and the case then collapses.

I have visions of defendants' supporters hanging around cycle routes in their cars...

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

All the usual signs: aggression, hooting, tailgating, verbal abuse, leaving the scene. Then the last ditch "he must be drunk" to shift the blame before coming up with that load of bullshit. If a jury can't see through that load of twaddle they should be hung!

 

[Poacher]

All the usual signs: aggression, hooting, tailgating, verbal abuse, leaving the scene. Then the last ditch "he must be drunk" to shift the blame before coming up with that load of bullshit. If a jury can't see through that load of twaddle they should be hung!

Er..yes, the jury was hung.

 

[Pale Rider]

All the usual signs: aggression, hooting, tailgating, verbal abuse, leaving the scene. Then the last ditch "he must be drunk" to shift the blame before coming up with that load of bullshit. If a jury can't see through that load of twaddle they should be hung!

The defendant admitted careless driving, which the jury knew.

Their task was to decide if the driving was not merely careless, but dangerous - in the legal context of the word.

That's not such an easy task given that you are trying to interpret the difference between two legal definitions which themselves are a bit woolly.

 

[jarlrmai]

careless and dangerous are such subjective terms it's beyond me why we have laws that are based on peoples definition of them.

 

[Profpointy]

I actually believe that the definitions of the two offences are actually quite sufficient. The problem is that driving standards have become so poor that the norm itself has moved...

I do feel that it is especially true for hitting (or killing) cyclists. The Clarksonites / Daily Mail constant repetition of "wobblin about all over the place" "don't pay any effin road tax" and too frequently "they make a mess if you run them over but it serves them right" has an isideous influence on what people believe. "lycra lout" is now no longer someone's husband or daughter but a sub-human mere nuisance

 

[briantrumpet]

the norm itself has moved...

But the Norm never moves!

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

How easy can it be? A driver doesn't 'somehow' hit every lamp post on the way to post Xmas cards. Driver used the horn to bully then shunted him out of the way.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Er..yes, the jury was hung.

With real ropes? Cool!

 

[Stinboy]

With real ropes? Cool!

That would be hanged.

I am a fully paid up member of the pedantic grammar police

 

[briantrumpet]

That would be hanged.

I am a fully paid up member of the pedantic grammar police

Ah, is that the same as a paid-up member?

I know from experience that being a pedant has its perils...

 

[Deleted member 26715]

That would be hanged.

Education required I always wondered why somebody was hanged & not hung