In the sweltering summer of 1995 an unassuming teacher called John Thomas Scopes became the lightning rod for one of this country’s most historic legal battles: whether Darwin’s Theory of Evolution should be banned from being taught in public schools. The trial became legend because of the mesmerising courtroom showdown. In Search of History s1e3: The Monkey Trial, History 1996
Dayton was about to become the centre of the universe. ibid.
Darrow knew his case was in trouble. ibid.
Had evolved into a trial of about how humans had came to walk the Earth. ibid.
The casualties of our justice system speak out. Trials are being stopped too late in the day. Thousands of prosecutions are under review … Have the scales of justice tipped too heavily against the accused? Panorama: Getting a Fair Trial? BBC 2018
Failures in the criminal justice system have had disastrous consequences. ibid.
We love fat women, people. Tight-fisted, unsympathetic, I want her on my jury. Runaway Jury 2003 starring John Cusack & Gene Hackman & Dustin Hoffman & Rachel Weisz & Jeremy Piven & Bruce Davidson & Bruce McGill & Marguerite Moreau & Nick Searcy & Leland Orser et al, director Gary Fleder, Fitch
Can you smell that? Furniture polish, cheap cologne and body odour. ibid. Fitch in court
Trials are too important to be left up to juries. ibid. Fitch to gun manufacturers
Never before has a jury found the gun industry liable for murder. ibid. television news
I’m in it to win. Just like you are. ’Cause that’s what I was hired to do. Everything else is coloured bubbles. ibid. Fitch to Rohr
You’re not going to change. Look around ya, I mean what’s going to change? Do you think it’s going to be any different next week, next month? It’s going to be the same goddamn thing. The Verdict 1982 starring Paul Newman & Charlotte Rampling & Jack Warden & James Mason & Milo O’Shea & Lindsay Crouse & Edward Binns & Julie Bovasso & Roxanne Hart & James Handy & Wesley Addy & Joe Seneca et al, director Sidney Lumet, Mickey
If I take the money, I’m lost. I’ll just be a rich ambulance chaser. I can’t do it. I can’t take it. ibid.
Sometimes people can surprise you. Sometimes they have a great capacity to hear the truth. ibid. Dr Thompson
Then finally it came. The first day of the trial. What Riedenschneider called The Big Show. The Man Who Wasn’t There 2001 starring Billy Bob Thormton & Frances McDormand & Michael Badalucco & Richard Jenkins & Scarlett Johansson & Jon Polito & Tony Shalhoub & James Gandolfini et al, director Joel Coen, Ed’s commentary
‘It is a tragedy of intrigue, mystery and death. But also of life, passion and struggle. The stage is set for an extraordinary story where good and evil confront each other.’ A Very Sicilian Justice: Taking on the Mafia, Al Jazeera 2016
An unprecedented trial where politicians, the police and the Mafia are in the dock together. [Judge] Di Matteo is now the most threatened man in Italy and the most protected. ibid.
‘In one year 200 people were killed.’ ibid.
‘I was brought up on the legend of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.’ ibid. lawyer of murdered anti-Mafia judges
475 Mafioso were brought to court; 346 were found guilty. ibid.
‘It’s an organisation that wants to exercise power in place of the state.’ ibid. commentator
In 1993 the Mafia unleashed a wave of bombings across Italy. ibid.
In Palermo, Italy – the Italian state – is on trial for colluding with the Mafia. ibid.
That the state made a secret pact with Riina’s successor … in return for ending the bombing campaign. ibid. testimony
The State/Mafia trial is still ongoing. All the accused denied the charges against them … The hunt for the explosives continues. ibid.
For over 21 years no-one has been brought to justice for one of Britain’s most notorious murders. Now the CPS is preparing for a trial. On the evening of Monday the 18th January 1993 in an alleyway just off the London Road, New Greenhithe, north Kent, Claire Tiltman, a 16 year schoolgirl, was killed in an apparently motiveless attack. The Prosecutors s1e3: The Trial, BBC 2016
Colin Ash Smith was not charged. He did however plead guilty to the attack on Charlotte Barnard and to an earlier attack on another woman, and was sentenced to Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years. Colin Ash Smith remained the prime suspect of Claire Tiltman. ibid.
The [Kevin] Cavendish-Coulson case: ‘A private school in Cheshire was a boarding school and some complainants came forward to say many years ago they had been indecently assaulted by him when they were boys at the school.’ ibid. CPS brief
[Claire] Tiltman: The police took over a thousand witness statements … Colin Ash Smith has now served nineteen years of his life sentence and has applied for parole … They find Colin Ash Smith guilty for the murder of Claire Tiltman … Life imprisonment with a minimum term of twenty-one years. ibid.
Keith Cavendish-Coulson is facing 42 counts of indecent assault on boys he taught during the 1970s and 1980s. Today he is expected to appear at Chester Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing … ‘He is going to plead guilty’ … ‘6 years and 9 months.’ ibid.
He [Bobby Seale] kept insisting on his right to represent himself, and the judge’s response to that was to order the bailiffs to put gaffer tape over his mouth and tie him to his chair. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Mike Gray, filmmaker, Netflix 2015
Political trials are getting more and more common in the USA … A number of trials against radicals are being carried out across the country. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, commentary, 2011
I’m an ordinary sort of person. It may be hard to believe but I never longed for the spotlight. But somehow the spotlight found me. The Trial of Christine Keeler I, Christine, BBC 2019
Then I met John Profumo. I’m 19 years old. ibid.
I just wanna have a bit of fun, you know. ibid. Mandy to Christine
MI5 may have been watching Captain Ivanov but to me he was just another one of Stephen’s [Ward] friends. ibid.
You know I could introduce you to a lot more fun. ibid. Stephen to Christine
Chaos seems to follow you wherever you go. ibid.
I am not a bad person. I’m young. And I like to have fun. ibid. Christine
Terrible crimes have been committed. But not by me. ibid.
The most natural instinct there is – the love of a powerful middle-aged man for a penniless girl. Is that a crime? The Trial of Christine Keeler II, Christine’s commentary
Pleasure mixed with danger – I suppose that’s what Jack liked. ibid.
I was a naive little girl with more power that I ever could have dreamed of. But in the end it wasn’t enough to save any of us. There were far bigger powers at work you see. The powers that really make the world go round. And friendships you thought would last for ever just vanished into thin air. Stephen may have been the puppet-master but he wasn’t pulling the strings any more. Not mine anyway. And the people who were, they were set to destroy us all. ibid.
Trapped in a terrible place with no escape … I have no voice. The Trial of Christine Keeler III
And just like that I was someone else. Very Important Person indeed. ibid.
The camera steals your soul. The Trial of Christine Keeler IV, Stephen to Christine
I’d be more than happy to fill you in. ibid. Stephen to journalist, seen by Profumo
All these tarts Ward has buzzing around here. He’s some sort of ponce, isn’t he? Living on Immoral Earnings. ibid. rozzer
Soon we’ll be last week’s news, wrapping up fish and chips. ibid. Jack, pillow talk to trouble-n-strife
If no-one was ashamed, would you get as excited? ibid. Christine to Stephen
The Party’s in a sorry state without me. ibid. Jack to trouble-n-strife
… and then they decided about the crime. The Trial of Christine Keeler V, Christine
Sex makes the world go round: look where that’s got me. ibid. Christine to Stephen
I can tell you like to have fun – we have a future, you and I. The Trial of Christine Keeler VI, Stephen to Christine
Christine Margaret Keeler: I am arresting you on charges pertaining to perjury, conspiracy and attempting to obstruct the course of justice … ibid.
They want to get me, don’t they? They got Stephen, and I’m next. ibid. Christine to rozzer
Justice has nothing to do with the truth. It’s a game. With ridiculous rules. ibid. Brief to Christine