Ched Evans - serious injury

Perfectly understandable to take that course of action if you believe in your innocence.

There may be some that will believe what they want to believe, but for me most should and will accept the verdict just as most accepted the original one.
 
Great post of yours, very comprehensive.

If I was Ched, and he is innocent of rape, I would sue the arse out whoever possible. Keep half and donate the other half to charity, ideally a rape victim one.

Dunno what to say, because he is guilty of being a dodgy fucker and a lowlife regardless of convictions. If he is guilty, with new evidence it is shit of him to drag this out. If he is innocent of rape which I have always believed then this is justice but only when he gets the earnings he lost back.

I remember a fireman (iirc) got loads of info about the victim bragging about money and buying a mini with the compo etc.

Its a tough one. I just fail to see how Clayton was innocent and he was guilty, she was tipsy but not hammered imo. Sex with Clayton wouldve woken her up a bit. I also cant believe a rapist would book his room in his name prior to taking a victim there. Makes no sense.

All to come, by much better informed people than I, who are far better qualified to make an assessment. I dont like Ched, never did, but if he is innoecnt then he needs justice.

Who's he going to sue? He can't prove she's lying. She's told the truth about events as she remembers them, I'm sure most on here will accede to that. Does he sue the courts for doing the best job they could with the information at hand? The Prosecution for doing the job they're paid to do? The Police for the same?
 
Who's he going to sue? He can't prove she's lying. She's told the truth about events as she remembers them, I'm sure most on here will accede to that. Does he sue the courts for doing the best job they could with the information at hand? The Prosecution for doing the job they're paid to do? The Police for the same?

If new evidence comes to light that proves he didnt do it, I believe he sues on behalf of a 'Miscarriage of Justice', he would have to make a solid case as these payouts come from the taxpayer.

If found innocent, he could counter summons the victim and drag her into court.

Its a messy case this. Regardless of what I think of Ched, if he is innocent he is fully entitled to clearing his name and chasing what he is owed, I think just having a clean slate is the biggest factor. Look at Adam Johnson, he is proper fucked when he comes out of nick, too famous to hide away.
 
If new evidence comes to light that proves he didnt do it, I believe he sues on behalf of a 'Miscarriage of Justice', he would have to make a solid case as these payouts come from the taxpayer.

If found innocent, he could counter summons the victim and drag her into court.

Its a messy case this. Regardless of what I think of Ched, if he is innocent he is fully entitled to clearing his name and chasing what he is owed, I think just having a clean slate is the biggest factor. Look at Adam Johnson, he is proper fucked when he comes out of nick, too famous to hide away.
As has been mentioned already, compensation usually comes in case of issues of police mal practice or the wrong person being prosecuted - there is no suggestion that this us anything other than some new information probably not available at the time that could have influenced the verdict.

The outcome of this won't be innocent it can't be, at best the verdict will be called in tsick doubt and a retrial won't happen as it wouldn't be in the public interest or viable
 
If new evidence comes to light that proves he didnt do it, I believe he sues on behalf of a 'Miscarriage of Justice', he would have to make a solid case as these payouts come from the taxpayer.

If found innocent, he could counter summons the victim and drag her into court.

Its a messy case this. Regardless of what I think of Ched, if he is innocent he is fully entitled to clearing his name and chasing what he is owed, I think just having a clean slate is the biggest factor. Look at Adam Johnson, he is proper fucked when he comes out of nick, too famous to hide away.

There's a big difference between not guilty beyond reasonable doubt and innocent and to get a miscarriage of justice verdict he'd have to prove that the prosecution/state knew of the evidence and kept it hidden from the court and the defence.

Right now I'd say that there's more chance she could sue for harassment and defamation of character if his appeal fails, then that he could counter-summons her if the appeal was successful. If his appeal is successful, that's if, there still hasn't been any malice on her behalf, this hasn't been a case where she's made up a story to get her own back at somebody or similar.
 
People expecting that Ched's name will be cleared today and he'll be straight into employment with another football club might care to consider:

1. Even though the hearing ends today, the court might reserve its judgment, i.e. not issue its decision on the day of the hearing. So we could have to wait up to, say, another four weeks. (FWIW, in one of the comments to a blog article I link to in the next bullet point below, the blog author - an experienced practitioner - says he thinks a reserved judgment to be likely).

2. If the conviction is quashed, the prosecution can accept that or ask the court to order a retrial. I understand that, ordinarily, there wouldn't be a retrial in a case where there'd be no effect on whether the appellant spends any more time in prison; after all, he's now been release from jail on licence. However, on the UK Criminal Law Blog, an experienced criminal barrister thinks there could well be a retrial in a case such as this owing to its high profile: http://ukcriminallawblog.com/ched-evans-appeal-to-be-heard-on-22nd-march/. Now, this commentator may be wrong, as even highly qualified professionals can be when offering their views in this way, but there must be at least some possibility of a retrial. And if Evans is subject to a retrial, then I doubt any club would touch him until that had taken place, so presumably for a few more months at least.

3. Even if Evans wins his appeal, whether football clubs continue to regard him as a toxic proposition surely depends on the circumstances. I suspect there'd be a big difference between the court quashing the conviction on what might be regarded as a technicality where the court decides it can't be sure he's guilty beyond reasonable doubt, on the one hand, and new evidence proving conclusively that he's innocent, on the other.

He may also suffer further reputational damage if it's subsequently alleged that he or people acting on behalf harrassed the claimant in the gathering of evidence for the appeal. I know for a fact that there are media outlets who've investigated this. Whether they'll choose to pursue the story once the legal proceedings are over, only time will tell.

Of course, if his conviction is quashed and there's no retrial, then he'll no longer be regarded as being on release on licence, which means he could pursue opportunities abroad now if no one in the UK wants him anyway (rather than having to wait until April 2017, when he'll no longer be on licence, which is the position if his conviction stands). So this would be a substantive benefit to Evans even if British clubs were to continue to shun him.

4. I see some references to entitlement to compensation. This isn't quite the formality people seem to think. Under section 133(1ZA) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, he's eligible for compensation only if "the new or newly discovered fact [which was the ground for the conviction to be quashed] shows beyond reasonable doubt that the person did not commit the offence": http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/mojas/guidance/#jump-6.

We'll see whether that requirement is met in due course, but media reports so far about the kind of evidence Evans was likely to put forward suggest that the challenge to his conviction was about introducing reasonable doubt rather than conclusively demonstrating innocence. If so, he won't get compensation. For an example of a high profile case where someone initially convicted remains officially not guilty after an appeal and a couple of retrials yet was refused compensation, see here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-10922487

I suppose there's technically a chance that he may be able to sue the police or CPS for misfeasance in public office, but that's a very hard thing to do sucecssfully.

5. I see some suggestions that people who initially condemned Evans should apologise for doing so if his conviction is overturned. Why should they? The whole point of this process is that if the conviction no longer stands, it will have been overturned on the basis that there's new evidence that couldn't have been available for the original trial - so how could anyone have taken it into account back then? Or should everyone refrain from commenting on any jury verdict in the criminal court system just in case other evidence later emerges?

6. In any event, let's wait for the Court of Appeal to rule and see what they say. Only at that point will it really be possible to offer an informed perspective on the case.

Very good post Peter.

With regards to point 5, I don't believe people should apologise if it turns out that he didn't do it. However, I do believe that a lot of people - many of those that signed that petition for example - have no knowledge of this case and just see the words "Ched Evans convicted of rape" and think he couldn't possibly be innocent. My sister has lived in Sheffield for 30 years and it's a sensitive subject there. She signed the petition but didn't have any idea of the circumstances surrounding the case until myself and the other half told her some of the things that were out in the public domain and how this was a classic case where the jury could've given a verdict either way.

That of course doesn't mean he definitely isn't guilty but I've always been uncomfortable with this conviction, not least because no rape was ever reported and the police and CPS have effectively decided one took place.
 

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