Interested Bystander
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I thought the judge decided the outcome of the trial with assistance of her assessors BUT it seems the assessors could overrule her decision ........
"On the Legal Brief website, Professor Annette van der Merwe, a criminal procedure law expert at the University of Pretoria, said the two assessors could overrule the judge when it comes to a verdict on the facts in a majority finding. This means that if the two assessors were to rule in favour of murder, or the judge and one assessor were to rule so, then that verdict would be the accepted one. The same would apply if two of them were to rule in favour of an acquittal."
http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week...der-trial-the-little-reported-legal-questions
"On the Legal Brief website, Professor Annette van der Merwe, a criminal procedure law expert at the University of Pretoria, said the two assessors could overrule the judge when it comes to a verdict on the facts in a majority finding. This means that if the two assessors were to rule in favour of murder, or the judge and one assessor were to rule so, then that verdict would be the accepted one. The same would apply if two of them were to rule in favour of an acquittal."
http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week...der-trial-the-little-reported-legal-questions