CPS REPORT INEFFICIENCES

Yesterday HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate published its annual report.  Amongst its findings on summary justice was the following statement;-"The defendant’s failure to attend was the biggest single reason why first hearings were ineffective".  There is no mention that the closure of hundreds of magistrates` courts in recent years could possibly be a valid reason for this decline in defendants` reluctance to travel to a court where most will be aware that they are liable to be found guilty. It is no over simplification to assume that the financial position of many such defendants is partly to blame. When the 100+ courts were being closed representations were made that increased travelling costs and time to reach those courts remaining open would be an impediment to what government has always promulgated as "local justice" especially for lower income groups. In addition it is difficult to argue that the inefficiencies of the CPS are unconnected to severe budget cuts. The cost cutting of the CPS as per the Commons library can be read in part below.

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DEBATE PACK
Number CDP-2017-0002, 9 January 2017
Funding of Crown Prosecution Service
By Jacqueline Beard
Grahame Allen
Summary
A Westminster Hall debate on the subject of the funding of the Crown Prosecution Service has been scheduled for 1630hrs on Wednesday 11 January 2017. The Member in charge of this debate is Karl Turner MP.
Contents 1. Background 2 1.1 CPS budget outturn 2 1.2 HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate 2 1.3 Director of Public Prosecution’s evidence to the Justice Committee 2 2. Media 4 2.1 Articles and blogs 4 2.2 Press releases 5 3. Parliamentary Business 6 3.1 Parliamentary Questions 6 4. Organisations and further reading 11
The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half-hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library.
2 Number CDP-2017-0002, 9 January 2017
1. Background
1.1 CPS budget outturn
The table below shows the budget outturn figures for the Crown Prosecution Service between 2010/2011 and 2015/16:
Further detail of the annual budget of the CPS can be found in its annual report and accounts which are available on the CPS website www.cps.gov.uk/publications/reports/.
The most recent of these (2015-2015) states, in the performance analysis: overview section:
The CPS’s net funding, as voted by Parliament, for the year to 31 March 2016 was £499.8 million. In delivering the public prosecution service the Department spent a total of £557 million. After taking into account £68.8 million income, the total net resource requirement (including capital) as shown in the Statement of Parliamentary Supply was £488.2 million which was £11.6 million or 2.3% less than the sum Voted to the CPS by Parliament.
1.2 HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
The most recent annual report of HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (2015-2016) makes the following comment regarding the CPS budget:
Previous recent annual reports have commented on the overall reduction in the CPS budget and the impact this has had, as reflected in reduced staffing levels and the closure of offices. However, the 2015 Government Comprehensive Spending Review confirmed that the CPS budget would be maintained with a sufficient increase to cover pay and price inflation.
1.3 Director of Public Prosecution’s evidence to the Justice Committee
In December 2015 the Director of Crown Prosecutions Alison Saunders gave evidence to the Justice Committee on the work of the CPS. Asked
Funding of Crown Prosecution Service 3
whether the CPS had the resources it needed to prosecute to the standards that we all want she said:
Yes, we think we do, particularly now that we have the CSR settlement. I am not saying that it is easy; let me say that first. Over the last five years, our budget has reduced by 23% or so. Where we have been able to make sure that we maintain or improve the service—we have improved our performance in some areas across those five years—we have taken the majority of the money out of things like IT, by becoming digital, and estates, by closing buildings and reducing the number of buildings we are in. We have reduced our headquarters by about 50% on the non-operational side. When I say non-operational, I mean people who are prosecuting. What will help us, and what we need to deliver going forward, with the spending review, is transforming summary justice, better case management in the Crown court, which is the equivalent, and continuing digitalisation. Those are all key to being able to maintain our performance.

PUBLIC INCOMPETENCE/PERSONAL TRAGEDY

I make no apologies for this post being somewhat off topic.  It has rarely happened previously and will probably be a long time happening again but as a child brought up in a slum tenement whose parents graduated to a council estate in the 1950s I am angry. 

The meaning of the word "honour" as understood in this country is of diminishing use. More often or not it is employed antonymically by those involved to describe the killing of a south Asian or middle eastern spouse or relative by a close family member. Except for those of the most absurd politically correct persuasion who seem to use the argument of acceptance of certain cultural difference, the above is regarded as a crime of heinous barbarity.  Duelling as a mark of a man`s honour lost its favour over 200 years ago. In public service honour in England, at least by public servants, would be seen as an admission of responsibility for failure and resignation from said public position would or should have followed.  A clear example in recent history was the resignation of Lord Carrington from Margaret Thatcher`s cabinet over his perceived failings prior to the Falklands war.  Such pubic acts of contrition, sadly, are now increasingly uncommon.  Honour, once the epitome of the English alongside the stiff upper lip is now just historical folklore.

On 26th May I commented on   the refusal of the Scottish Police Authority chair Andrew Flanagan to resign after revelations of his reprehensible activities as a senior public figure.  On 14th June he finally resigned.  The dreadful disaster of Grenfell Tower has been succeeded by reports of Kensington and Chelsea Council`s actions prior to the fire and the non activities of its senior members subsequently. In the old days when the Labour Party consisted to a certain extent of socially responsible leaders and local councils were responsible for the governance of the citizens in their patch by the ownership of assets and the direct employment of workers to service those assets responsibility was clearly identifiable. In the Grenfell tragedy we are gradually hearing of how the buck has been and is travelling like a pass the parcel game combined with musical chairs.  Finally a week later the CEO of the council has resigned. 

What is in the minds of such people as he?  They accept the lavish salary and perks yet are unwilling to accept the consequences of their mismanagement.  Those responsible for the legal contract of employment of highly placed public officials are also to blame for not ensuring that council tax payers are not landed with the bill to be paid for the incompetence of such employees. 

Whether within local councils, the judiciary, the police, the civil service or the armed forces the blanket of financial protection around the incompetents who are ensconced should be withdrawn and the sooner the better by a Tory government.  I am all for economic liberalism and a safety net for those at the lower end of the income scale but the likes of Nicholas Holgate should be out on their ear without a penny of compensation.

IMAGE ANALYSTS & FALSE DECLARATIONS ON s.172 FORMS

Perverting the course of justice by persuading somebody other than the driver to take penalty points is now an offence well known to the British public including, it is estimated, over a quarter of million who have done exactly that. The fall out from the Huhne and Pryce case with Constance Briscoe QC found guilty of intending to pervert the course of justice spotlights a ramification of reliance upon visual imagery to secure convictions as opposed to the old fashioned method of police patrol cars stopping suspected errant drivers. 

When I was appointed nobody had heard of image analysts outside of John le Carre novels or opinions of planetary geologists on the composition of the Moon, Mars, Europa or other bodies in the solar system. Yet I remember when I sat on a case management hearing over a matter of theft to the value of about £9 where the outstanding problem was the obtaining by the defence of an image analyst`s expert opinion as to the identity of the alleged thief who was captured by a CCTV camera. The defendant had set down an alibi defence. CPS agreed that the imagery would be the only evidence available. The bench chairman made the point that surely if the CPS were firm in their belief that there was a case to answer and the threshold had been passed then it was a matter for the bench to make that judgement at trial. But no; we were told that in effect the image analyst would decide if the image were that of the defendant with the obvious conclusion that the case would be dropped or there would be a change of plea subsequent to the expert`s “findings”.

I must admit to having had difficulty with that. Unlike DNA evidence courts are given little or no scientific background to the accuracy of facial analysis and the caveats involved. But of more significance is the cost involved at a time when courts are running without ushers, when low level CPS staff are making many mistakes affecting the efficiency of prosecutors, when legal advisors are at their wits end, when fingers are crossed that interpreters of the required language will turn up, when defendants are self representing because legal aid is unavailable, when courts rarely begin on time owing to delays of prosecution or defence in having made all their preparations by 10.00a.m. etc. etc. etc. So those considering making false declarations on s.172 forms have been warned.

NEW JUSTICE SECRETARIES AND KNIFE CRIME

Latest knife crime information available here.

Sooner or later every Justice Secretary promises that those possessing knives or similar in a public place will face the full wrath of the law. It seems that however much the incumbent huffs and puffs those who undertake the sentencing of such offenders take a different view.  Let`s wait and see but IMHO time will really tell.

SINGLE JUSTICE PROCEDURE (OFFICIAL)

I have long shared my opinion on these pages that in the long term (over two parliaments) a Conservative government and probably a Labour one also would be happy to remove independent Justices of the Peace from the courtroom so that paid civil service employees ie District Judges would preside over magistrates` courts perhaps with J.P.s as wingers and perhaps not.  With magistrate numbers down to about 13,000.......from a peak of more than twice that number just over a decade ago and increasing numbers of lawyers being appointed District Judge the process is well underway. J.P.s with the encouragement of their Association and officialdom seem to have approved of their sitting alone in an office accompanied by a legal advisor to preside over simple summary non imprisonable cases. The official version was published recently and is copied below. 

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Inside HMCTS

Organisations:	HM Courts & Tribunals Service, Ministry of Justice

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Revolutionising summary justice – an update on the Single Justice Procedure

Mike Logan, 16 June 2017 — Crime, Digital services

[English] - [Cymraeg]
Hello, my name is Mike Logan and I work in HM Courts and Tribunals’ Development Directorate. I would like to share with you an update on the implementation of the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) which is the means by which work is processed within the Single Justice Service (SJS).

What is Single Justice Service

A key part of the reform of courts work. SJS will contain all services delivered by the magistrates’ court which can be considered by a single magistrate. As well as SJP it will include applications and the digital services which support these including Automated Track Case Management (ATCM); online plea; and the Applications Register.

What is Single Justice Procedure

A legislative change in the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 allowed for a single magistrate to deal with adult summary-only, non-imprisonable offences for “guilty” pleas and “proof in absence” cases. They sit with a legal advisor outside of a court room without the defendant or prosecutor being present, for cases such as speeding, vehicle excise duty and fare evasion. These cases account for about 850,000 of the total cases per annum.
This change links closely with the successful rollout of the online plea service for traffic offences, which is also live across the country. SJP went live in April 2015 at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court which was an early adopter and a prototype for the new procedure in London for the Metropolitan Police Service, DVLA and Transport for London cases. In April 2016, a Statutory Instrument was laid to extend the use of SJP to other prosecutors such as TV Licensing, the Environment Agency, train operating companies and local authorities.

Stakeholder and user engagement is vital

Implementation has been managed through a cross-agency Single Justice Procedure Steering Group which I chair. All of the national prosecutors including the police, DVLA and TV Licensing are represented along with HMCTS Regional Leads. The Group has done a huge amount of work with the support of MoJ Digital User Experience colleagues from developing the new SJP Notice which is sent to the defendant, to agreeing a national SJP Protocol outlining the key business processes to be followed by all agencies.

Mike Logan pictured with the SJP Team

There were a number of challenges to overcome, such as dealing with 43 individual police forces and their different IT systems and requirements. However, by devoting time to build excellent working relationships with colleagues from the police and prosecution agencies at the outset, we ensured implementation has been kept on course.
This steering group is shortly to be replaced by an operational working group which will monitor progress and future developments of SJP and online plea.

Current Position

The national picture on implementation is really positive. SJP is now live in 57 Magistrates Courts across England and Wales. Between its inception in April 2015 and April 2017 the number of cases dealt with using SJP numbered 667,168 of which 599,921 were disposed of. All 43 police forces are now live. DVLA and TV Licencing (TVL) are now live in all HMCTS Regions. We also have local authorities and train operating companies using the new procedure. SJP has generally been well received by magistrates, prosecutors and court staff. Prosecutors have reported benefits from not having to attend court as often to increased productivity.

Latest Developments

ATCM is the new end to end digital service that will process SJP work. ATCM, through the prosecutor portal enables prosecutors to directly upload their SJP cases onto the system. It provides an interface for legal advisors to access and record decisions for SJP cases, notify parties of decisions made and generate orders and notices.
The product has initially been developed as a pilot in conjunction with Transport for London. The first SJP session was held in Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court on 12 May 2017, with two more following in quick succession.
Discovery work has started with TVL and DVLA to extend ATCM to their cases. Initial discussions are also being had with police in order to start preparations for including traffic cases.

Team working is crucial to success

None of this could be done without the invaluable support of colleagues within my team, HMCTS Regional Business Change Managers and Common Platform Implementation Leads. All involved have done a huge amount of engagement locally with the various prosecution authorities. A number of process mapping events have been held to agree future state arrangements and to work out and agree plans across each HMCTS Region.

Feedback

I hope you found this blog informative and I would be interested in hearing your views on whether further blogs on SJP would be useful. Please feel free to contact me or the team directly by email or by using the comments function at the bottom on this page.

DEATH OF THE MAGISTRATE`S BLOGGER

Richard Bristow J.P. died earlier this month only a short time after he was retired by the MOJ from his position as a magistrate.  I write of him today because he was the originator of the Magistrate`s Blog about fifteen years ago.  His observations provided a runyonesque view of the world from the lay bench in West London. Indeed he was, unknowingly, an inspiration for me when I began this blog at its original site in 2009. Rest in peace.

MAGISTRATES` ROTA DIGITALISATION

I retired before magistrates` rota system was digitalised.  My informal soundings seem to indicate that there is much to be improved.  The latest information below is copied directly from  the Judicial Internet published today.


Having used the new system to run the October 2016 to March 2017 rota, the team have analysed the results and user feedback from regional retrospective workshops and from an embedded feedback function inside the online system itself, to develop improvements to the design and function of the Rota service. Changes underwent comprehensive testing before being released, ready for the next round of bi-annual rota scheduling.

Improvements delivered since December 2016

The next rotas (from April to September 2017) have now also been successfully prepared and published and the 76 LJA criminal court rotas and 49 DFC family court rotas have demonstrated some significant improvements:
Eligibility rules inside the system have been refined to ensure that magistrates are automatically scheduled in the correct sessions. For example, in the last rota some specialist domestic violence panels only had two out of the pre-requisite three specialist magistrates sitting. This then required manual intervention from the Rota Administrator team. The level of manual intervention needed has been reduced as a result of this and other business rule changes.
 The balance of sittings for magistrates who sit on multiple panels has been improved so that there is a more even spread of sittings across all jurisdictions in which they sit, i.e. enabling magistrates previously being overscheduled in the family jurisdiction to meet their minimum sitting requirements in adult and youth jurisdictions.
In response to changes in legislation and rules for bench makeup, the team have also removed the mixed bench requirement for adult, youth and family court sessions.
Overscheduling of magistrates has also been reduced as a result of amending the priority of business rules inside the system, again reducing the level of manual intervention required before the rota can be published.
The scheduling has also been improved for magistrates with limited availability, i.e. sitting one or two days a month, those who sit half days and for Chair magistrates to ensure the most effective scheduling of the magistrates available.
The ability to identify a home sitting location has also been introduced, which will enable magistrates to sit more frequently at their nearest magistrates’ court, which will be beneficial as a result of the increased size of local justice areas.
Overall, the team have also made changes to the mathematical algorithm that underpins the Rota Optimiser system and the increased capacity results in improved performance and quality of rotas.
The April 2017 update also enabled magistrates to identify their winger or chair designation for the sittings they have scheduled into in the April to September rota.

The benefits (in numbers)

The time taken to prepare rotas has been reduced by 56%. The overall time taken to prepare rotas has seen a huge reduction. The latest rotas took 2,991 fewer hours (or 127 days) to prepare than previously. The number of ‘broken rules’, (instances where the Rota Administrators have had to take manual intervention) have been reduced by 16% in the April to September 2017 rota compared to the previous rota (a reduction of 10,461 broken rules). A side effect of balancing sittings for members of family panels is an increase in over-scheduling for family-only magistrates. However, this meant less manual intervention compared with the whole family bench for the Rota Administrator teams.

Next Steps

The work of the Rota team and Common Platform programme has ensured that the quality of rotas has continued to improve and that all magistrates have a more even distribution of sittings, based on their own preferences.
As in the ‘continuous improvement loop’ described above, the team will now analyse the data from the latest round of rotas, consolidate feedback and work with administrators and magistrates to develop further improvements.

THE MET SEEKS DIRECT ENTRY DETECTIVES

Over the last twenty years or so we have become accustomed to the downgrading of specialised jobs in the name of efficiency ie cost saving.  There used to be two classes of nurses; state registered and state enrolled.  The latter classification of lower qualified personnel was established in the 1940s and existed for half a century before being discontinued.  Since then nursing has become a graduate profession and auxiliary nurses supposedly undertake the basic and menial tasks which their betters have abandoned. These graduate nurses are pressing for increased responsibility for patient care with not all the medical profession in agreement that that is beneficial to patients. Teaching assistants were introduced about fifteen years ago ostensibly to do what it said on the tin; assist qualified teachers in the classroom.  However since then these so called assistants have increased their classroom duties to such an extent that some would assert that they are in fact taking over functions of their qualified seniors.  This downgrading of professionals can be observed in many professions. One would have thought eg that the fitting and supply of contact lenses would be limited to those who were registered optometrists or doctors with a diploma in eyecare.  One would have been wrong. Dispensing opticians who previously were involved mainly in supply of spectacles can be termed "contact lens fitters" without the qualification or expertise to conduct eye examinations. In the magistrates` courts many CPS prosecutors are not lawyers; they are perhaps the equivalent of legal executives ie trained for the task in hand but without the knowledge of the law required for graduate and qualified lawyers. 

Police forces throughout the country were quick to capitalise on the availability of lowly educated and low waged assistants commonly known as Police Community Support Officers who have no power of arrest but according to the propaganda provide a uniform on the street.  That that uniform should be of a warranted police officer was overlooked. As is their wont it`s the Met Police pressing ahead of the queue in attempting to cover up the lack of qualified personnel insofar as its shortage of detectives has led it to seek new entrants directly who would not serve the usual "apprenticeship" in fact if not in name through service as a beat constable for two years.  Quite how such an innovation will go down with the rank and file of police officers is not within my compass.  However I doubt it will be with open welcome arms as I doubt such incomers will be able to be considered on a par with those achieving detective positions through traditional methods. 

ADDING TO THE GREAT REPEAL BILL

Many supposedly astute commentators have opined that the election result indicates a wish by the great British public to water down the concept of a "hard Brexit".  My perhaps simplistic thinking processes tell me this interpretation is stretching logical thinking.  To ascribe a national determination on a nuanced topic such as Brexit to such a generalised process as voting in a national election seems sheer tosh. Nevertheless  although we have given notice of our leaving one way or t`other in two years it seems the current government is determined to play by the rules and obey every directive from Brussels until day zero.  Latest examples of this obedience are  orders on the gathering of information from technology companies. Two reports offer opinions. My general point is that with a proposed  Great Repeal Bill in the offing it seems beyond reason to incorporate any more EU directives in our law.

ANOTHER LORD CHANCELLOR

So......we have another Lord Chancellor; the fifth since 2010.  Is it any wonder the system is in turmoil?

DIGITAL HELP FOR COURT USHERS

My few conversations with former colleagues about the efficiency of my former court lead me to believe that for all the trumpeting of digital innovation the same old problems still exist and "downtime" is not a historical concept.  But apparently there is a glimmer of light on the horizon; at least for ushers who, we all know, are the rock upon which the court just could not function.  Indeed I well remember a morning sitting in what was a heavily listed remand court, when we were told at 9.55am that there was no usher available.  We refused to sit until one was found for us even if it was an underemployed legal advisor.  At 10.25am fully bedecked in his black robe he appeared.  Problem solved. But to return to my point: a digital device for ushers has been nominated for a prestigious award.  If it truly performs as its designers hope progress will have been made in fact and not just theory towards a fully functioning digital courtroom.   

SACKED BRADFORD MUSLIM J.P.s//A STATISTICAL ANOMALY? PERHAPS

I`ve always considered rightly or wrongly that when it comes to errors in not following the rules Justices of the Peace have been and are treated more harshly than their professional full time colleagues.The MOJ in general and the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office in particular are not exactly an open book when it comes to disciplinary cases.  The latter provides only a bland statement of supposed fact.  

Bradford and Keighley Local Justice Area is a recently enlarged magistrates` bench. The city and its surrounds has a population of 531,000 of whom a quarter are Muslims.  There is no publicly available information that I can find to establish the exact number of J.P.s on that bench nor the numbers of non white British members with the caveat that being a British citizen is not a requirement to be a magistrate; a situation I personally consider intolerable. 

The aforementioned JCIO since the end of March has removed three magistrates from the same local justice area; Bradford and Keighley.  Assuming that there are anything between 200 and 300 J.P.s in that area to have three removed from a single bench within such a short time  is quite astonishing.  What is interesting is that the three disgraced magistrates from their names appear to be Muslims.  I repeat these are facts; a statistical anomaly, perhaps.  The JCIO notices are copied below.

STATEMENT


JCIO 19/17 17 May 2017

STATEMENT FROM THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT

INVESTIGATIONS OFFICE

Mr Tariq Mahmood Hussain

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:

“The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have removed Mr Tariq
Mahmood Hussain JP of the Bradford and Keighley Local Justice Area (now
the West Yorkshire Local Justice Area) from the magistracy following his
conviction for conspiracy to defraud, for which he received a four year
custodial sentence."

ENDS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATEMENT


JCIO 18/17 9 May 2017

STATEMENT FROM THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT

INVESTIGATIONS OFFICE

Mr Mohammed Liaquat

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:

 “The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have removed Mr Mohammed
Liaquat JP of the Bradford and Keighley Local Justice Area (now the West
Yorkshire Local Justice Area) from the magistracy for failing to meet the
minimum sittings requirement for magistrates.”

ENDS 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATEMENT


JCIO 08/17 29 March 2017

STATEMENT FROM THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT

INVESTIGATIONS OFFICE

Mr Maqsood Ahmad

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:

“The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have removed Mr
Maqsood Ahmad JP of the Bradford and Keighley Local Justice Area
from the magistracy for failing to meet the minimum sittings
requirement for magistrates.”

ENDS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ADDICTS NEED TREATMENT NOT IMPRISONMENT

It has been variously estimated that 70% - 90% of violent/anti social and/or acquisitive offending is by addicted individuals whether due to alcohol or class A drugs or a combination of both. Every court every day somewhere in the land a bench of magistrates sighs at its own impotence in being unable to refer the apology of an individual to where he should be referred ie by a compulsory order to be treated in a specialised institution until two psychiatrists consider his release would not be a risk for society. ASBOs, CRASBOS, Drink Banning Orders, Fixed Penalty Notices etc are as much good as an aspirin for terminal cancer.

More than once I have blogged on this gaping hole in our supposed caring compassionate health service. So if you`re obese, infertile, use abortion as a means of contraception, have ears which stick out too much or have arrived here illegally with a host of diseases treatment is free at source. But to suggest that drug addiction and alcoholism be considered as health problems is akin to shouting “Jesus saves” in a mosque or synagogue. As far as I am aware the costs of treatment for addicts in purpose built establishments would be insignificant in comparison with the escalating costs to victims emotionally and to tax payers in pounds and pence for continuing on the road we now travel.

DOMESTIC ABUSE AND CROSS EXAMINATION

For quite some time, as J.P.s and criminal lawyers well know, in cases of domestic abuse, still awaiting classification as a dedicated offence, defendants are prevented from directly cross examining a complainant. In such matters a legally aided lawyer, if there is no representation, under s.38 will be tasked with that function.   With that in mind it seems odd that a High Court judge has declared his reaction insofar as he appears to be declaring his interpretation of the law in his own design.

Perhaps this can be explained by somebody with more knowledge than I.

A RAY OF HOPE

Unsurprisingly my comments here are often critical of one or more parts of the justice system, of how it operates and where its operatives from high court judges to litter wardens have made decisions which are of interest usually because of their ineptness. It is therefore a change to report of a case earlier this week where a habitual criminal charged with robbing a High Court judge , refused to plead or offer any defence and even  refused to enter the courtroom.  Yet he was acquitted.  In other words the prosecution failed to persuade the jury beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant had committed the crime for which he had been charged. This is a ray of hope that the concept of innocent until proved guilty still resonates whatever  odds are stacked against a defendant.