Posted on 05/16/2007 4:34:15 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
Judge to prosecutor: 'So what's a Web site?'
During Internet terrorism trial, judge asks attorneys to keep it simple
By Mark Trevelyan
Updated: 3:05 p.m. ET May 16, 2007 LONDON - A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.
Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.
"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum." An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."
Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Get a new Judge.
They need to get rid of this guy pronto
This judge sounds like Larry King or Bob Scheiffer. King said he didn’t want to surf the web because he didn’t want to “push all those buttons.”
Imagine working for any of these Luddites. What a nightmare!
My thought exactly!
I’m just wondering.....what does his court reporter use....???
Cuneiform Tablets...???
I mean Papyrus is pretty high tech.
Sort of reminds me of the idea of jurors whose minds are like blank slates.
“OK, now I understand what a website is, but what’s a computer?”
If it's at all like the courts I've been in, most of the court reporters use a stenotype, a shorthand typing device. Some of the higher-tech ones have a laptop that translates the shorthand close to real-time.
Apparently, this judge either doesn't use electronic docketing software (my State Court still has paper docketing), or his clerks do all the work (which I suspect happens in a lot of Federal courtrooms).
Holy Sheeetah!
This guy been freeze-dried or doing hard time?
My CAT knows what a WebSite is,for petesakes.
As long as he does his job. As long as he has the courage to protect society, he is ok. As long as he remembers he is an Englishman (not many of us left). (friendly chuckle).
In this way it would cut down the area of appeal, on the grounds of persons being instructed, when they had not the proper knowledge. I remember old cases when the judge, to murmurs of amusement would ask- "and who are these Beatles" etc.
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