Media thread 2022/23

Status
Not open for further replies.
Centurions said:
I think he was found to be in breach of his contract (a disrepute clause most likely) and has probably already been sacked off, being found guilty or not wouldn't come into it. We wouldn't have announced it if so to avoid affecting the court case. This is all pure guess work by the way, which is why the original thread was locked.
Click to expand...

It's highly unlikely he's secretly been sacked for gross misconduct. That would be the culmination of a process that would likely involve professional advisers from outside the club. There'd have been no guarantee that we could keep it quiet and, if news broke, it could potentially have compromised the trial. I think we'd have steered well clear.

So the true position is almost certainly the public one - that he's been suspended without pay since being charged in August 2021, with his last salary payment being made the following month to cover the period up to the date when the charges were brought. We could do this because recent case law states that, when someone is unable to perform their employment duties because they're on remand or subject to stringent bail restrictions, the employer is entitled to withhold salary subject to certain conditions.

The principal condition is that the individual in question must somehow be culpable through his own conduct for such a decision being taken in respect of his bail application. This was clearly the case with Mendy as the judge initially remanded him in custody and later imposed strict bail conditions expressly because the player had knowingly breached the terms of his police bail while under investigation. I did post this on here at the time, but no one picked it up.

As for what happens next, first we'll have to see if the remaining two charges do go to a retrial in June, as the prosecution yesterday requested. That was an immediate response to the verdict and there must be a chance that the CPS will decide in the cold light of day that the prospect of a guilty verdict second time round isn't as high as they'd like. The decisive factor will probably be when they find out how close the jury was to a conviction on the counts on which it couldn't deliver a verdict. If a majority of jurors wanted to convict on those charges, it seems reasonable to try Mendy again. If not, it probably isn't.

The position is simpler if the retrial goes ahead. It'll begin late in June and, so it was said yesterday, should take two or three weeks. As Mendy's contract expires on June 30, he'll no longer be on City's books when the verdict is reached, so whatever happens in those proceedings, it won't be anything to do with us.

If the CPS drops the charges against Mendy despite what was said yesterday, then he's available once more to perform his employment duties. I can't imagine, after nearly 18 months not training or playing, that he'd actually be in a position to feature in our senior team this season even if the choice were merely a footballing one. Of course, there'd be more to it than just football and I don't think he'd be considered for selection even if he were clearly fit and ready.

City's choice in that situation would therefore be between paying him until the end of the season, seeking to negotiate a payoff so that he rode into the sunset earlier than that, or commencing a disciplinary process with a view to dismissing him for gross misconduct even though he hadn't been convicted. I noted when he was charged that there might well be a possibility to follow the latter course even if no guilty verdicts eventually ensued, and it still seems possible.

One wrinkle, though, is that City couldn't sack him if other players had done substantially the same things and weren't subject to dismissal (or even to any disciplinary action at all). This would be clearly discriminatory and one can't use such situations only with a view to getting rid of an employee who's no longer wanted.

Just to say that the thread on Mendy has been closed and I fully understand why. However, I thought it was worth posting this anyway. It does contain speculation, but I'm a lawyer and have been careful not to say anything that compromises the proceedings still ongoing against Mendy. I also like to think that it's informed speculation and in dealing comprehensively with the position, perhaps could forestall other, less informed speculation on here.

Nonetheless, if the mods choose to delete this post, that's their choice. I'll fully respect such a decision.
 
Norbiton said:
I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that some of the media comments, probably prepared for a guilty verdict, would seriously jeopardise any chance of a fair retrial
Click to expand...
Tbh I can't see how any high profile case like this can realistically go to retrial assuming no foreknowledge/ bias of the jury?
 
petrusha said:
The decisive factor will probably be when they find out how close the jury was to a conviction on the counts on which it couldn't deliver a verdict. If a majority of jurors wanted to convict on those charges, it seems reasonable to try Mendy again. If not, it probably isn't.
Click to expand...

Surely that is something that will never be known? Isn’t it the law that other than informing the court which verdicts they have reached, the jury members are strictly forbidden from repeating anything that went on during their deliberations?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.