Back to the Bailey
As you may remember, last January we took an evening tour of the Old Bailey, the UK courthouse. On Monday, 26 September, Kathi had the opportunity to return to the Old Bailey with a group of ladies who decided to view ongoing trials. There are 18 different courtrooms at the Old Bailey and the public is permitted to make up the viewing gallery in most of the courtrooms.
We were given a short history of the Old Bailey along with a summary of the cases being heard in each courtroom (we hired a tour guide to provide this service). We were free to move from one courtroom to another to observe the proceedings. Kathi opted to sit in on two murder cases. The first was that of a young woman who was alleged to have stabbed to death her boyfriend. The testimony that was heard was that of the medical examiner.
The second case was quite strange – Gary Ozzy Osbourne was accused of murder. He changed his name to that of his rock star hero, Ozzy Osbourne. He is alleged to have stabbed his friend five times during an argument. They were both said to be small-time drug dealers. The witness testifying was a former friend of the defendant’s who was testifying as to the defendant’s confession to him.
As we learned in our January tour when we played parts in a real trial scenario, each individual in the courtroom has a designated place to sit or stand. This includes the friends and family of the victim who sit in an area protected from public view in the courtroom. However, the friends and family of the defendant are relegated to the viewing gallery which is made up of only three rows of seats. Kathi concluded that this was good motivation to keep quiet during the trial.
Even though she didn’t get to act as judge, as she did during the tour in January, Kathi decided that both judges did admirable jobs in difficult cases.
We were given a short history of the Old Bailey along with a summary of the cases being heard in each courtroom (we hired a tour guide to provide this service). We were free to move from one courtroom to another to observe the proceedings. Kathi opted to sit in on two murder cases. The first was that of a young woman who was alleged to have stabbed to death her boyfriend. The testimony that was heard was that of the medical examiner.
The second case was quite strange – Gary Ozzy Osbourne was accused of murder. He changed his name to that of his rock star hero, Ozzy Osbourne. He is alleged to have stabbed his friend five times during an argument. They were both said to be small-time drug dealers. The witness testifying was a former friend of the defendant’s who was testifying as to the defendant’s confession to him.
As we learned in our January tour when we played parts in a real trial scenario, each individual in the courtroom has a designated place to sit or stand. This includes the friends and family of the victim who sit in an area protected from public view in the courtroom. However, the friends and family of the defendant are relegated to the viewing gallery which is made up of only three rows of seats. Kathi concluded that this was good motivation to keep quiet during the trial.
Even though she didn’t get to act as judge, as she did during the tour in January, Kathi decided that both judges did admirable jobs in difficult cases.
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 3:21 PM
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