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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/05/menezes-london
De Menezes jurors told to ignore family protests
The coroner leading the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes today instructed jurors to ignore a protest by relatives of the dead man against the decision to forbid a verdict of unlawful killing.
Shortly before the jurors were sent out to consider their verdict yesterday, four of De Menezes's relatives stood up to reveal T-shirts displaying the message: "Your legal right to decide – unlawful killing verdict."
The slogan was in response to the announcement this week by the coroner, Sir Michael Wright, that he would not allow the jury to consider unlawful killing as one possible verdict.
As a second day of deliberations began, Wright told the 11 jurors they must not allow their considerations to be influenced by anything other than the evidence. "What was displayed was wrong and you should ignore it."
Wright had told the jury that unlawful killing was tantamount to accusing an individual or individuals of murder or manslaughter and was not a verdict that would be available to them.
He said it was not available should they consider that the death occurred as a result of a series of decisions and mistaken beliefs on the part of the Metropolitan police as an organisation. He left the jury with two verdicts to consider: lawful killing and an open verdict.
Wright told the jurors just as they sat down yesterday that lawyers for the De Menezes family would no longer be present at the hearing. "You will notice Mr Mansfield and Miss Hill and their instructing solicitors are no longer in their places," the coroner said.
"The evidence and legal submissions are now all over and we have all had their assistance throughout these very important stages. But I understand that from this point they will no longer be here. There's absolutely no difficulty about that. No disrespect is meant by it to anyone."
Seconds later Vivian Menezes Figueiredo, Alessandro Pereira, Patricia da Silva Armani and Erionaldo da Silva stood up and removed their coats to unveil their T-shirts. They walked slowly and in silence from their seats at the back of the courtroom towards the jury. Standing in line, they waited 30 seconds in full view of the jury before filing out of the court.
There was no response from the jury or coroner, who quickly resumed his summing up of the evidence to the jury.
He spoke of the differing accounts from police and the public over whether police had warned De Menezes before he was shot.
Wright said C12, the specialist firearms officer who fired the first fatal shot, had given evidence that he had shouted "armed police".
"C12 asserts positively that he did. C2 [the second firearms officer] does not claim to have shouted anything, neither did he hear anyone else.
"C5 remembers hearing more than one shout of 'armed police'.
"No other civilian in the carriage hears C12 shouting anything."
In his legal ruling to the jury, the coroner said they must dismiss unlawful killing as an option and consider first a verdict of lawful killing. To find that De Menezes was lawfully killed the answer to two questions had to be yes: was there an honest belief, albeit mistaken, that he represented an immediate mortal danger and threat; and was the force used no more than was reasonable in the circumstances.
Wright said that if the answer to these questions was no they should record an open verdict.
The jury retired yesterday at 2.39pm to consider its verdict.
The inquest comes after two inquiries by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and a criminal trial at which the Met was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws.
De Menezes was killed with seven shots to the head and one to the shoulder by police who mistook him for the terrorist Hussain Osman.
De Menezes jurors told to ignore family protests
The coroner leading the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes today instructed jurors to ignore a protest by relatives of the dead man against the decision to forbid a verdict of unlawful killing.
Shortly before the jurors were sent out to consider their verdict yesterday, four of De Menezes's relatives stood up to reveal T-shirts displaying the message: "Your legal right to decide – unlawful killing verdict."
The slogan was in response to the announcement this week by the coroner, Sir Michael Wright, that he would not allow the jury to consider unlawful killing as one possible verdict.
As a second day of deliberations began, Wright told the 11 jurors they must not allow their considerations to be influenced by anything other than the evidence. "What was displayed was wrong and you should ignore it."
Wright had told the jury that unlawful killing was tantamount to accusing an individual or individuals of murder or manslaughter and was not a verdict that would be available to them.
He said it was not available should they consider that the death occurred as a result of a series of decisions and mistaken beliefs on the part of the Metropolitan police as an organisation. He left the jury with two verdicts to consider: lawful killing and an open verdict.
Wright told the jurors just as they sat down yesterday that lawyers for the De Menezes family would no longer be present at the hearing. "You will notice Mr Mansfield and Miss Hill and their instructing solicitors are no longer in their places," the coroner said.
"The evidence and legal submissions are now all over and we have all had their assistance throughout these very important stages. But I understand that from this point they will no longer be here. There's absolutely no difficulty about that. No disrespect is meant by it to anyone."
Seconds later Vivian Menezes Figueiredo, Alessandro Pereira, Patricia da Silva Armani and Erionaldo da Silva stood up and removed their coats to unveil their T-shirts. They walked slowly and in silence from their seats at the back of the courtroom towards the jury. Standing in line, they waited 30 seconds in full view of the jury before filing out of the court.
There was no response from the jury or coroner, who quickly resumed his summing up of the evidence to the jury.
He spoke of the differing accounts from police and the public over whether police had warned De Menezes before he was shot.
Wright said C12, the specialist firearms officer who fired the first fatal shot, had given evidence that he had shouted "armed police".
"C12 asserts positively that he did. C2 [the second firearms officer] does not claim to have shouted anything, neither did he hear anyone else.
"C5 remembers hearing more than one shout of 'armed police'.
"No other civilian in the carriage hears C12 shouting anything."
In his legal ruling to the jury, the coroner said they must dismiss unlawful killing as an option and consider first a verdict of lawful killing. To find that De Menezes was lawfully killed the answer to two questions had to be yes: was there an honest belief, albeit mistaken, that he represented an immediate mortal danger and threat; and was the force used no more than was reasonable in the circumstances.
Wright said that if the answer to these questions was no they should record an open verdict.
The jury retired yesterday at 2.39pm to consider its verdict.
The inquest comes after two inquiries by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and a criminal trial at which the Met was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws.
De Menezes was killed with seven shots to the head and one to the shoulder by police who mistook him for the terrorist Hussain Osman.
