By Bennette Roach
Judge Iain Morley (The Court)
In the article regarding the exclusive interview with Judge Iain Morley in December, we concluded as follows:
“Judge Morley had cautioned he will not discuss the just concluded (Evans) case and I refrained from seeking him do so. It was not difficult for him however to address a burning issue that I raised with regards to “doing away with the jury system.” He said that he has strong views on the jury system to remain. He said that the responsibility of directing them to do their duty well lies with the judge and the attorneys in the case. He is of the view that a juror will do his job well as long as he judges as he himself would want to be judged.”
Following is how Justice Morley responded to my dubious thought of him having “an opinion on that or express any thoughts about the matter! “
“I do have a very strong opinion on the importance of juries,” he began. “I think that justice taking criminal matters lies in the hands of the jury and not in the hands of a Judge. I think it’s very important that people come from the community assemble under the direction of the judge and are directed as to the law.”
Then he proposes a powerful option as to how jurors should go about their duty using common sense and a standard rooted in Christian biblical principles. “But then they apply their common sense anonymously to a circumstance which is presentable for prosecution and argued by defense, so that those who judge apply a standard by which they would want to be judged themselves.”
Judge Morley then explains, “the difficulty with professional judges and it has happened in other jurisdictions where you have professional judges,” he said. “Yes, they can get a bit comfortable in being the person who does the judging and sometimes they might lose sight of the fact they may one day themselves be judged.”
He continued: “So the idea of a jury applying a standard where they judge as they would want to be judged is something that juries do and do naturally; and there is a danger to have a professional judge to lose that.”
Judge Morley goes on to say he would argue that the jury system is better than the judge system. “So I would always want a jury, it doesn’t seem a perfect system, but it is arguably, and I would make the argument, better than the judge system,” he said.
We will later, bring more on this and more from Judge Iain Morley, especially with regards to some rumours and comments emanating out of the just concluded trial and with respect to the jury and how they should be inducted into the jury system and trials.
Listen to the full interview here: https://soundcloud.com/user-851448539/bennette-roach-exclusive-interview-with-judge-iain-morley-161222
(See the judge in action in the Evans’ trial – A paid insert of an extract presentation…) in Christmas edition of the newspaper.
