Former MP Chris Williamson spoke exclusively to Skwawkbox and the Canary, revealing the instructions given to the jury

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Damn, that shits crazy:

    The jury was then subsequently kept for three days without “meat, drink, fire and tobacco” to force it to bring in a guilty verdict. When it failed to do so, the judge ended the trial. As punishment, the judge ordered the jurors imprisoned until they paid a fine to the court.[35]

    Four jurors refused to pay the fine, and after several months, Bushell sought a writ of habeas corpus. Chief Justice Vaughan, sitting on the Court of Common Pleas, discharged the writ, released them, called the power to punish a jury “absurd” and forbade judges from punishing jurors for returning a verdict the judge disagreed with

    No wonder that dude founded Pennsylvania