Fri, Jan 6, 2006
Deed presides over the case of a prison inmate who is charged with killing and cannibalizing his cell mate. Both the prosecution and the defense agree that a plea to manslaughter is appropriate but cannot agree to whether diminished capacity applies. Deed therefore wades into new areas, much to the dismay of the Home Secretary, when he decides to hear evidence to determine the facts of the case. Underlying it all is the behavior of the prison officers involved who knowingly placed the victim, a black man, in the same cell with a known and violent racist. Jo Mills is surprised when Marc Thompson re-appears with son Michael and announces they have re-located to London.
Thu, Jan 12, 2006
When a university research laboratory is bombed, Deed finds himself hearing a case of murder against Henry Free, a well-known animal rights activist who had been harassing the professor who was killed. Jo Mills declines to act for the defense given her deteriorating relationship with Deed but Charlie Deed finds herself acting as a junior with Simon Norwalk as her leader. When he is dismissed by Free, Charlie finds herself acting for the defense with the Attorney General prosecuting. The crown's case relies heavily on a witness whose identity cannot be revealed in the public interest. Charlie believes that the witness may have been an agent provocateur but her constant speech making and emotional approach in the courtroom puts her father in the position of perhaps having to report her to the Bar Association.
Fri, Jan 20, 2006
Judge John Deed has to judge a case concerning Jo's boyfriend, paedaetric consultant Marc Thompson. Marc wants to take the decision not to resuscitate a two-year old patient at his hospital who has a weak heart and is in a coma, if the child's heart stops again, but the parents disagree. In another case, Deed has to sentence a young thief, and the youth then dies in custody. All this brings back Deed's memories of his own traumatic childhood. He is spoiling for a fight and argues with Jo - who announces that she has decided to marry Marc. He then picks a fight with Neil Haughton at a dinner party and Sir Ian Rochester is still looking for ways to get rid of Deed.
Fri, Jan 27, 2006
Deed hears the case of a woman suffering from motor neuron disease. She believes she has been made ill from the microwaves emitted by a cellphone transmission tower that was installed on the roof of her building some years before. The case once again brings him into conflict with the Home Secretary and industrialist Sir Timothy Listfield. The Lord Chancellor's Department want Deed off the case and are considering everything from calling him for jury duty to sending him to Brussels to hear cases at the International War Crimes Tribunal. Deed is also intrigued by Rose Hussein's claim that ammunition with spent uranium used by the British Army in Iraq killed her husband. Even though their relationship is at a low ebb, he convinces Jo Mills to take on her case. Marc Thompson informs Jo that he may have to temporarily return to South Africa to testify in court. She becomes concerned at his increasingly odd and rigid behavior.
Fri, Feb 3, 2006
Judge Deed finds himself called for jury duty. He is excused in a case presided over by Monte Everard and where Jo Mills is acting for the defense. He is also excused from a particularly long trial on the request of the defense as he knows too many of the principals. He is finally accepted in the case of Olga Plachek, a nanny who is accused of murder in a baby shaking death. When the jury begins to deliberate, Deed finds himself in the minority wanting to look at the evidence while most would be happy to convict and go home. One man is particularly hateful and unforgiving. As Deed gets information on shaken babies, he learns some particularly negative information about Jo Mills' fiancé, Marc Thompson.
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Fri, Feb 10, 2006
With Jo's wedding approaching, Deed pleads with her to re-consider. In court he finds himself presiding over a pre-trial hearing where a mother is refusing to allow her daughter to receive the MMR (mumps, measles, rubella) vaccine on the grounds the multiple vaccine is unsafe. It doesn't help that her husband is the principal spokesperson and advocate for child immunization. Appearing before Mrs Justice Morag Hughes, Jo Mills makes an application of habeas corpus on behalf of Rose Hussein who was arrested by the police after she publicly accused the British Army of poisoning innocent Iraqis with weapons made of spent uranium. The government is concerned at the outcomes of both cases and try their best to inhibit Deed's freedom of action and to threaten Hughes with bad publicity over her affair with Hughes.