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Latest news: Straight from the LondonNet newsdesk
Louise Appeal: The likely defence submissions
Guilty or Not Guilty?: You have your say
Louise Woodward Campaign: Contact details
Links: Other sites covering the trial
Louise Appeal
THE defence team will ask the Judge on Tuesday 4 November, 10.00 AM (Boston time) to act as a thirteenth juror and declare a mistrial, order a retrial or reduce the offence to manslaughter.
Her defence team are now preparing grounds of appeal. These could include the following matters which may have prejudiced her trial:
(1) The enormous (mainly adverse) pre-trial publicity
(2) The judge failed to admit into evidence the results of Louise Woodward's lie-detector test, which supported her innocence
(3) The judge failed to dismiss the charges when a vital piece of evidence, part of Matthew's skull, could not be produced by the prosecuting authorities
(4) Prosecution attorney Gerard Leone closing speech laid out the criteria for a manslaughter verdict not one of murder. This misleading account was not corrected by Judge Zobel
(5) The judge failed to sum up the charges correctly
(6) The judge failed to provide a vital transcript to the jury. The jury had said that the defence expert's testimony was critical.
(7) The judge put improper pressure on the jury to reach a verdict on the final day
Did serum hold the key?
THE JURY focused their deliberations by examining the evidence relating to fluid taken from Matthew Eappen's skull at the time of the tragedy.
They asked Judge Hiller Zobel to clarify the evidence of key prosecution and defence expert witnesses. They were refused access to the defence expert's testimony by the judge. Their conclusions on this single issue could have been enough to swing the case. The nature of the fluid determined when the injuries to Matthew's head occurred.
Latest news: Straight from the LondonNet newsdesk
Louise Appeal: The likely defence submissions
Guilty or Not Guilty?: You have your say
Louise Woodward Campaign: Contact details
Links: Other sites covering the trial
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