Top lawyer: Sturgeon attack on not proven verdict ‘ill-informed’
A LEADING lawyer has attacked Nicola Sturgeon over ‘ill-informed’ comments on scrapping the not proven verdict – saying it suggests she believes juries have got decisions wrong.
Thomas Ross, QC, has raised concerns over the SNP’s plans to consult on the country’s three-verdict system. Scotland is the only part of the UK where juries can return one of three verdicts at the end of a trial – guilty, not guilty or not proven.
Last week it was revealed that if re-elected into government, the SNP will seek to review the use of not proven.
Rape Crisis Scotland has campaigned for the third verdict to be scrapped, claiming it is disproportionately used in rape cases.
Speaking last week, the First Minister said: ‘The conviction rate for rape and sexual assault is shamefully low. And I think there... [are] increasingly strong arguments the not proven verdict is a part of that.’
According to figures released by the Scottish Government last year, the ‘lowest’ conviction rate was for rape and attempted rape – with 47 per cent of cases leading to a conviction in 2018-19.
This was four percentage points higher than in 2017-18.
The official statistical report said ‘the conviction rate for rape and attempted rape has been the lowest of all crimes in each of the last ten years’.
Speaking to the Scottish Daily Mail following Miss Sturgeon’s claims, Mr Ross said: ‘This ill-informed comment shows the Government starts from the position that, in the recent past, some guilty people who should have been convicted were in fact acquitted. So which juries got it wrong?
‘The conviction rate for rape and sexual assault cases matches exactly the number of cases a jury found to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.’
He added: ‘What percentage rate would the Government be happy with – 50 per cent, 60, 70? Are they comfortable that innocent people might have to go to jail to achieve that?’
The Scottish Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats also support scrapping the not proven verdict.
Rape Crisis Scotland launched a campaign in 2018 with a woman known as Miss M, who successfully sued the man cleared of raping her for damages in a civil case.
Other lawyers have also spoken out. Solicitor Iain Smith, on Twitter, said: ‘The prosecutor leads evidence to determine if a case is proven against an accused beyond reasonable doubt. A desire to increase conviction rates is a pathway to injustice.’
Law Society of Scotland president Amanda Millar said any change to verdicts ‘must be consistent with the principles of the Scottish criminal justice system’.
Responding before campaigning was suspended on Friday, an SNP spokesman said: ‘It will be important to consider any reforms to juries in the round – and the recommendations of Lady Dorrian’s review on the management of sexual offence cases.’