VERDICT WATCH UK - Nurse Lucy Letby, Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #30

[JosieJo]

The judge, Mr Justice Goss, told jurors on Thursday that one of their group had informed the court that they were no longer able to serve on the jury “for good personal reasons”.

He added: “The trial will continue with 11 of you. I will give you further directions tomorrow when you return to court.

“There is no significance. This happens in trials not infrequently. You can continue as a jury of 11 very well.”

The jury has been instructed to try to return verdicts on which they are all agreed on the seven counts of murder and 15 of attempted murder.

The loss of one juror means they would have to return verdicts on which 10 are agreed if they are not able to reach a unanimous decision.

Goss thanked the juror for their service for “the extremely long period of time” of the trial, which began in October.

He said: “I imagine it will be slightly frustrating for you but it’s an inevitability. I’m sorry you can’t continue.

“It’s vital that you hear me say this and your fellow jurors hear me say this to you that there must be no communication between you and your fellow jurors.”

Goss told the jury there was a “lifetime prohibition” on them discussing their deliberations with anybody.

He added to the discharged juror: “You must not communicate with any of your fellow jurors on this case about anything to do with this case because you are no longer a juror on this case.”

The jury began deliberating verdicts on 10 July and are in their third week of considering the charges.

Letby has been on trial over what the prosecution allege was a “calculated” and “cold blooded” year-long series of killings from June 2015.

She is accused of murdering newborns by injecting them with air, and attempting to kill others by poisoning them with insulin or “sabotaging” their feeding tubes. She denies all the charges.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1687139513045229568

 

[Penny68]

There is a (rather old now, originally published 2000 I think) book by Trevor Grove called The Juryman's Tale, giving an account of his jury service on a very long fraud trial. He had to get special permission. He was then editor of the Sunday Telegraph which I suppose helped. I don't remember the detail but I enjoyed it at the time.

This article I found while looking for the details of the book is also rather old, but I think the insights on jury service are still valid. The only thing I know of that's changed is the raising of the age limit to 75.

Rough justice for jurors when the call-up comes

Thank you Moll for adding this link, very interesting for sure.

How kind of the Judge who allowed the later half-hour start for the reason the Juror mentioned.

 

[Penny68]

I got contacted to be on a Jury 4 years ago. Due to the medical problems I have I sent back the form to say why I would need to be exempt.

I thought after I posted it that I might get another letter to prove what I mentioned, so I gathered up as much as I could. ie: hospital appointment letters etc. I just got a return letter to say I was exempt/excused from Juror service, and that was it.

 

[gc105]

Seems strange to discharge the juror at the end of the day, having sat and deliberated all day.

Is it the same juror who has been responsible for previous adjourned days due to juror absence?
Sickness? Family bereavement? Family emergency? Personal request for a different reason? Just seems very odd to have happened at the end of a day of deliberations, and not happened during/immediately following one of the juror absence days (which for me makes it odd it would be sickness or family emergency etc).
How will their dismissal affect the dynamic/discussions between the remaining 11 jury members?
I wonder if this juror has been firmly in the guilty/not guilty camp.

Sorry for rambling…
So many questions, and no answers!!!!

 

[Dotta]

This is all very strange to put it mildly.

But I hope all will move smoothly now.

Fingers crossed

 

[Phoenix Lazarus]

If there's no verdict tomorrow, it'll be four weeks on Monday since the jury's deliberation began.

 

[DianaWW]

The way he called it ‘inevitable’, sounds as though he was expecting it. Perhaps the juror has had something booked in their calendar (medical treatment or something along those lines) for some time, but they were hoping to have reached a verdict by now in which case it wouldn’t matter. But as they haven’t, they’re unable to continue after today. Pure speculation of course. I just hope the verdict is soon before anything else happens!

 

[Parker Knoll]

You and me both Diana.

 

[QB2022]

I wonder if that also means they are close and perhaps had hoped to squeeze a verdict out in time?

 

[bobbymkii]

The way he called it ‘inevitable’, sounds as though he was expecting it. Perhaps the juror has had something booked in their calendar (medical treatment or something along those lines) for some time, but they were hoping to have reached a verdict by now in which case it wouldn’t matter. But as they haven’t, they’re unable to continue after today. Pure speculation of course. I just hope the verdict is soon before anything else happens!

Maybe this is what he meant when he said the deliberations were reaching a "critical point" when there was that juror absence recently?

 

[Tortoise]

Length of Deliberations Predictions

Jul
Mon 10th - day 1 (afternoon only) - 2pm to 4pm minus 5mins = 1h 55m
Tue 11th - day 2 - 4h 20m
Wed 12th - day 3 - 4h 20m
Thu 13th - day 4 - 4h 20m
Fri 14th - day 5 - 4h 20m
Mon 24th - day 6 - 4h 20m
Tue 25th - day 7 - 4h 20m
Wed 26th - day 8 - 4h 15m
Thu 27th - day 9 - 4h 20m
Fri 28th - day 10 - 3h 50m (12pm - 4pm minus 2x 5 min breaks)
Aug
Tue 1st - day 11 - 4h 10m
Wed 2nd - day 12 - 4h 20m
Thu 3rd - day 13 - 4h 10m

Running total = 53h


Still in the game -

58h - @Jw192 (backed by @Sarahlou )
70h - @bobbymkii (backed by @Dotta )
75h - @CS2C (backed by @Kittybunny )
80h - @V347 (backed by @crystalline )

 

[CS2C]

I wonder if that also means they are close and perhaps had hoped to squeeze a verdict out in time?

Could explain what the judge meant by being frustrating for the juror in question.

 

[iamshadow21]

Could explain what the judge meant by being frustrating for the juror in question.

I think because the juror was determined to see it through, but had come to a point where they couldn't, for whatever reason. The spirit was willing, but it wasn't to be.

MOO

 

[Blondiexoxo]

This trial just keeps experiencing crisis after crisis.. we’ve long suspected a juror may be discharged. We thought it from mid way through the trial with all the absences, we thought it right up until they went out. But I know I didn’t expect to see one go at this point.

It’s so frustrating because if there was a majority of 10-2 on any of the charges (2 not guilty) and one of the 10 has now gone, that will leave a majority of 9-2 which isn’t enough for a guilty verdict.

After this today I wouldn’t be shocked if they end up announcing they are hung, this is just such a blow to everyone involved IMO.

 

[CS2C]

If it is indeed a hung jury what happens then ?

 

[Tortoise]

If it is indeed a hung jury what happens then ?

The prosecution can start the process for a retrial.

 

[Blondiexoxo]

If it is indeed a hung jury what happens then ?

I think the prosecution decide whether to retry her (I believe they would)

Trying to keep positive that justice will be served but it’s hard to keep that belief as the days go on, with this happening today it’s hard to hold onto hope. I’m a ‘glass half empty’ person though, I’ve learned to always expect the worst, quietly hope for the best and then if the best does become reality it’s a nice surprise. If the worst happens I’m already prepared. But I would be absolutely gutted if this crumbles now.

 

[Tortoise]

It's often described as a 9 or 10 month trial but there have been 80 weekdays that the court did not sit. That includes juror absences, Christmas and Easter breaks, public holidays, snow days and other days where no explanation was given.

That is 16 weeks.

 

[WaxLyrical]

It's often described as a 9 or 10 month trial but there have been 80 weekdays that the court did not sit. That includes juror absences, Christmas and Easter breaks, public holidays, snow days and other days where no explanation was given.

That is 16 weeks.

80 DAYS. Wow!

I do recall there being almost an entire month where it felt like court barely sat apart from the odd day here and there.

 

[Blondiexoxo]

It's often described as a 9 or 10 month trial but there have been 80 weekdays that the court did not sit, including public holidays. That includes juror absences, Christmas and Easter breaks, snow days and other days where no explanation was given.

That is 16 weeks.

So really it’s been around 5 months. Obviously it was never going to be a smooth run with no illnesses or emergencies, but the Monday absences have become somewhat of a theme and there have been more days they’ve not sat than I’d have thought would have been expected IMO.

Plus with schools now being off for 6 weeks absences may be even more likely if some are struggling for child care. It’s been such a long time, I bet no one was imagining back in October that they’d have to organise child care for august