Joint Enterprise - Are verdicts mutally exclusive?

[clarkey78]

If two men (say A and B) are charged with a joint enterprise of GBH. A's defence is one of self defence - that he was attacked and fought back. B's defence is that he was simply a witness, had no idea what was going to happen, that he witnessed a fight between two men and did not get involved.

The only evidence is the victim's witness statement that says both men participated in an unprovoked attack. The jury finds against A, but acquits B.

Before the Judge summed up, defendant A's barrister argued that the Crowns case was one of Joint Venture. Therefore, if the jury were to decide that the victim's evidence of B being involved was not true, there would be no evidence against A, as A had never been accused of carrying out a lone attack, but only one of Joint Venture.

The Judge said that the jury may decide that they are convinced of the evidence against A, but less so against B, but that does not mean they are rejecting the victims evidence entirely. He did however agree to change the wording of his summing up to some extent.

So my question is one of legal precedent. Where can I look for previous cases of joint venture acquittals. I have seen that I can search at libraries - but what do I search for? Where do I start? Is is even worth looking or does the fact that the original judge considered it make it irrelevant?

Any help is much appreciated.

[zbearspirit]

Hi. What you need to consider is that the Jury makes the decision as to who is guilty or innocent. So in the case you mention if the evidence does not show B ,as playing an active part in the assault then the Jury will find them innocent. Each case will be judged on its merits.

[greatlawteacher]

Joint venture is usually where one member of a gang commits a crime, eg stabbing a victim, and the others, who may have just been onlookers or less involved are all charged with the same offence. The law says that if the others knew that say one member was carrying a knife and might use it, then they are all guilty of the stabbing. Most A level criminal law books have a chapter on it, where current cases and rules are stated or go online to lawteacher.net and look at the criminal law resources pages

[greatlawteacher]

To answer the other questions in your post. Look under "inchoate offences" or "joint enterprise" If you want to look in any books, go for one you can understand, such as Elliott and Quinn Criminal Law. Yes it's worth looking, the law on self defence is always open to question and the law on joint enterprise is also questionable. Basically, what the jury decided cannot be challenged, as long as the judge gave them the right law on the matter. If the judge made any decisions about what the law should be, then there is always the right to challenge what he decided. "A" should talk to his barrister or solicitor about an appeal.