Ok so…
Obviously this is all just my own opinion.
Full disclosure, before the trial I thought “innocent”, because I didn’t believe a person could do such things on such a scale. Early on in the trial I was G but not for all counts, and for the past 6 months I have been firmly “guilty” for all charges, just so you have an idea of my biases.
I went to court today annoyed that I was only watching BMs closing and annoyed I couldn’t get off work to see BNEs closing or LL on cross. I was thinking “CBA listening to this tosser” but also wanting to see history being made as this case will be massive once it’s over.
My opinion of BM (not LL) has changed a lot today. I was impressed by him, if I was on trial I would want him as my defence.
Yes, he is bombastic, arrogant, and clutching at straws, but really that’s all he has to clutch at. He’s doing the best with what he has. He is a great orator, I found him to weave a compelling narrative (although I didn’t find most of it plausible). I think he’s very good at what he does, and having just read the Standard write up l have to say he comes across much better in person than the write up portrays.
I would describe him as being like that odd amazing teacher or lecturer you get who makes a boring, difficult subject easy to understand, that’s his style of speaking.
For the actual content of what he was saying I’ve done a bit of a thematic analysis, it broadly slots into 4 areas:
like wrong or missed entries made by other nurses “but when LL does it, GUILTY!”, saying the prosecution are ignoring harm events that happens when LL was off duty (on the table of events he said there was 2 or 3 missing). A lot of implying the prosecution had cherry picked stats (but BM actually did the same in his closing).
He really laboured the “innocent till proven guilty” point and was quite compelling in how he presented it, it was a stirring speech about one’s duty to the accused.
As others have said he really went to town on Dewi Evans, however I have to say this was the one thing he said today in his closing that he actually had a bit of evidence to back up. I was quite surprised by some of what I heard and saw about this expert witness. I want to check back in the live reporting to see what was said as I don’t want to say anything I’m not allowed to, but the things he said did give me doubt in the motivations of the witness (not of LLs guilt).
However he over-extrapolated this and tried to paint Sandy Bohin as unreliable “by association” but then had nothing to back this up, so then did not sound credible.
IMO he missed the mark here and tried to kiss a too much, it came across insincere.
“I do” after LL said “you think I pushed it [the feed] in”.
Said a lot of things about how they belittled LL, how they seemed outraged that she had dared argue back and defend herself.
The “go commando” comment was fairly well covered in the live reporting.
He also kept alluding to this being the first chance the defence has had to really properly address the jury and get their points across, like they haven’t had chance to bring things up until now.
Onto Lucy herself, this was a big motivation for me to visit court, to actually see this person (on video) with my own eyes. Others have commented on her appearance through the trial, and yes she looked more tired, miserable and heavier than her social media pictures. What struck me is how still she was. We all sat in hot courts for hours today and naturally people shifted around in chairs, scratched, drank water, fidgeted. LL could go >1 hour before any perceptible movement, just stock still and staring straight ahead for hours. It just seemed a bit weird.
Later in the day it looked like she dabbed her eyes with a tissue 3 times, but it was during the time BM was tearing Dewi Evans apart, so it seemed like an odd time to be emotional.
There was a point this afternoon where the speakers went wrong and made a horrible noise first and then quite a funny echo when BM was speaking, most people in court laughed briefly, even BM and the police and counsel. LL made no perceptible reaction. She did use that moment after when they were trying to sort the IT to have a bit of a look around the court.
Impact of todays closing on the jury:
There was only two points today that gave
me cause for concern.
Firstly; if somebody found the heaps of medical evidence to be too confusing or difficult to consider, then BM gives a neat
excuse for all this, I.e. that it was all cherry picked anyway to fit the “guilty till proven innocent theory”, and then you don’t have to trouble your mind thinking about it all, because the jury gets to decide what’s important and what’s not. I think this is why he’s popular on the Facebook groups. Hopefully there is nobody on the jury like this.
Secondly; the Dewi Evans discussion visibly swayed some of the people sitting on my side of the court and I think could have the potential to put doubt in the jury’s minds.
Otherwise anyone with half a brain could see all BM did today was well constructed, theatrical waffle.
Personally I think BM knows she’s toast and knows she’ll be up again on more charges before long. He’s just doing his job and honestly I quite enjoyed watching
him do it, as much as one can with such a dark subject matter.
---
Obviously this is all just my own opinion.
Full disclosure, before the trial I thought “innocent”, because I didn’t believe a person could do such things on such a scale. Early on in the trial I was G but not for all counts, and for the past 6 months I have been firmly “guilty” for all charges, just so you have an idea of my biases.
I went to court today annoyed that I was only watching BMs closing and annoyed I couldn’t get off work to see BNEs closing or LL on cross. I was thinking “CBA listening to this tosser” but also wanting to see history being made as this case will be massive once it’s over.
My opinion of BM (not LL) has changed a lot today. I was impressed by him, if I was on trial I would want him as my defence.
Yes, he is bombastic, arrogant, and clutching at straws, but really that’s all he has to clutch at. He’s doing the best with what he has. He is a great orator, I found him to weave a compelling narrative (although I didn’t find most of it plausible). I think he’s very good at what he does, and having just read the Standard write up l have to say he comes across much better in person than the write up portrays.
I would describe him as being like that odd amazing teacher or lecturer you get who makes a boring, difficult subject easy to understand, that’s his style of speaking.
For the actual content of what he was saying I’ve done a bit of a thematic analysis, it broadly slots into 4 areas:
- “The Prosecution has a theory and they’re bending everything to fit with it.”
like wrong or missed entries made by other nurses “but when LL does it, GUILTY!”, saying the prosecution are ignoring harm events that happens when LL was off duty (on the table of events he said there was 2 or 3 missing). A lot of implying the prosecution had cherry picked stats (but BM actually did the same in his closing).
He really laboured the “innocent till proven guilty” point and was quite compelling in how he presented it, it was a stirring speech about one’s duty to the accused.
- “Experts ain’t tit”
As others have said he really went to town on Dewi Evans, however I have to say this was the one thing he said today in his closing that he actually had a bit of evidence to back up. I was quite surprised by some of what I heard and saw about this expert witness. I want to check back in the live reporting to see what was said as I don’t want to say anything I’m not allowed to, but the things he said did give me doubt in the motivations of the witness (not of LLs guilt).
However he over-extrapolated this and tried to paint Sandy Bohin as unreliable “by association” but then had nothing to back this up, so then did not sound credible.
- “Buttering up the jury”
IMO he missed the mark here and tried to kiss a too much, it came across insincere.
- “If you can’t attack what someone is saying, attack the way they say it”
“I do” after LL said “you think I pushed it [the feed] in”.
Said a lot of things about how they belittled LL, how they seemed outraged that she had dared argue back and defend herself.
The “go commando” comment was fairly well covered in the live reporting.
He also kept alluding to this being the first chance the defence has had to really properly address the jury and get their points across, like they haven’t had chance to bring things up until now.
Onto Lucy herself, this was a big motivation for me to visit court, to actually see this person (on video) with my own eyes. Others have commented on her appearance through the trial, and yes she looked more tired, miserable and heavier than her social media pictures. What struck me is how still she was. We all sat in hot courts for hours today and naturally people shifted around in chairs, scratched, drank water, fidgeted. LL could go >1 hour before any perceptible movement, just stock still and staring straight ahead for hours. It just seemed a bit weird.
Later in the day it looked like she dabbed her eyes with a tissue 3 times, but it was during the time BM was tearing Dewi Evans apart, so it seemed like an odd time to be emotional.
There was a point this afternoon where the speakers went wrong and made a horrible noise first and then quite a funny echo when BM was speaking, most people in court laughed briefly, even BM and the police and counsel. LL made no perceptible reaction. She did use that moment after when they were trying to sort the IT to have a bit of a look around the court.
Impact of todays closing on the jury:
There was only two points today that gave
me cause for concern.
Firstly; if somebody found the heaps of medical evidence to be too confusing or difficult to consider, then BM gives a neat
excuse for all this, I.e. that it was all cherry picked anyway to fit the “guilty till proven innocent theory”, and then you don’t have to trouble your mind thinking about it all, because the jury gets to decide what’s important and what’s not. I think this is why he’s popular on the Facebook groups. Hopefully there is nobody on the jury like this.
Secondly; the Dewi Evans discussion visibly swayed some of the people sitting on my side of the court and I think could have the potential to put doubt in the jury’s minds.
Otherwise anyone with half a brain could see all BM did today was well constructed, theatrical waffle.
Personally I think BM knows she’s toast and knows she’ll be up again on more charges before long. He’s just doing his job and honestly I quite enjoyed watching
him do it, as much as one can with such a dark subject matter.
---
Yes I did, too much for one dayHmmdid you stay over last night and drive back today?
