Are There Mockingbirds In The RailGate Courtroom?

DoesBooRadleyUseThatTree
AtTheCornerOfSmitheAndHornbyVille


In case you missed it, some pretty weird stuff went down in the RailGate courtroom yesterday.

And now the rumours are flying all over the place.

Actually, a lot of it is something slightly more than rumour because a number of eyewitness reports from citizens that were in the courtroom have added considerable detail on top of the very cryptic proMedia reports.

Personally, I've now pretty much come to the conclusion that it was all, essentially, as innocent as Jem and Scout going to watch their Dad, Atticus, do his thing (only in reverse, of course).

The trouble is, we don't know, with certainty, that this really is the case.

And therein lies the rub.

Because....

Given that we have heard that the encounter between two jurors and a regular courtroom observer took place on a Skytrain platform miles and miles away from the courtroom....

And given that we've heard that those two jurors recognized the observer because he has been in the courtroom sitting in the same place directly behind the accused with considerable regularity.....

And given that the two jurors did not know who that observer was.....

And given that we've heard that those jurors raised the matter with the other jurors.....

And given that the jurors raised the issue with the sheriff who then brought it to the attention of the judge....

And given that the judge questioned the jurors about what was said during the enounter on the platform....

And given that the judge assured the jury that the observer was not associated with the defense....

And given that the observer, who is the father of one of the prosecutors, has agreed to no longer come to the courtroom....

And given that there was, apparently, another regular observer who is related to another of the prosecutors who is also no longer coming to the courtroom.....

Well.

You can see why some people are still talking about this.

A lot.

Which means that there is a perception problem here.

And that, I think, is something that the judge needs to deal with, particularly as it pertains to the sweeping nature of the publication ban.

Otherwise it is very possible that the populace is going to start looking for mockingbirds everywhere.

Both real and imagined.

And that will not be a good thing.

For example, if the public feels that it is not getting the straight story about something as presumably unintended and innocuous as a chance meeting between a prosecutor's relative and a couple of jurors......

How the heckfire are we not going to wonder if there isn't something not quite straight-up going down during a whole week of publication-banned "legal wrangling" that broke out immediately after a single objection by the prosecution in response to a defense question about another familial relationship that involves one of the lead RCMP investigators on the case and a high-ranking BC Liberal Party apparatchik?


OK?

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