talkmagic.co.uk

Yes, that is what I thought. Of course kartoffeingeist seems to hail from Scotland and I do know that Scottish law is different so perhaps plea bargaining is prevalent there. But no. On second thoughts I don't think so. I just forgot that I am Scottish myself and I don't remember any plea bargaining in Scotland either.

I am confused about the whole thing because a Canadian lawyer I met insisted to me that in Britain they have plea bargaining. However, he was a personal injuries lawyer rather than a criminal one so he may not have been quite as up on these things as he thought.

On balance I don't think it happens and if it does then everyone must be keeping very quiet about it.

A defence lawyer will sometimes suggest that his client will plead guilty to lesser charge if the prosecution's case isn't solid on the stronger charge and The CPS will sometimes agree to this. There was a case reported recently where, in November 2011 a guy was arrested for stealing several dozen boxes of Lego from, I think, a UPS distribution centre. The sets were brand new for that year's Christmas Market, not due to be in the shops for a further two weeks so nobody outside of the distribution chain should have them in their possession. The case against him was quite solid, his car was seen on CCTV at the UPS depot, when Police traced his address via the registration number and when they visited him the sets were in the house and in his car. Quite clearly he had stolen them but there were no witnesses and the CCTV footage didn't show him loading his car with the stuff. Rather than charge him with theft and a smart lawyer getting him off, he was charged with handling stolen property, pleaded guilty, and is currently serving 2 years at Her Majesty's Pleasure.

In the proper sense of the term, no we don't have plea bargaining in Scotland. This would involve the judge and the accused haggling over pleas and sentences (if I plead guilty now, what will my sentence be?)

Instead we call it plea negotiation (there is also confession negotiation, similar idea) .It means a lot of minor offences can be dealt with without the courts. This is done pre-trial, and it saves the courts time, and as I say, the court system would not be able to cope without it. Too many cases, and the cases take too long. We also have sentence discounting for a guilty plea, same kind of idea, but for more serious crimes that need to go to court. You can get about a third off your sentence for an early guilty plea.

For a funny case of someone pleading guilty for an easy life, there was a man caught 'simulating sex in a bicycle' in a hotel room, the cleaners called the police who arrested him for breach of the peace (a separate crime in Scotland, not English BoP) (which it isn't). He pleaded guilty in the hope it would go through the system quicker and with minimal embarrassment. If he'd consulted a lawyer, he'd have been told it wasn't BoP, there'd be no case to answer and he'd be on his way home. As he pleaded guilty, and there was a sexual element to the crime, the judge had no choice but to put him on the sex offenders register :s

Bellars actions DID have an effect on other magicians:

http://www.tunbridgewellspeople.co.uk/T ... story.html

Well, maybe that newspaper article will clear the air and give him a bit of peace. The trouble is that sometimes these things work against you and make matters worse because it brings more attention to the situation. Still, I think on balance it will probably help.

Hopefully, I'm assuming the locals read the original story and only remembered the "Tunbridge Wells", "Magician" and "Underage girls" parts but no the name or face of Bellars and jumped to conclusions. There was a lot of debate on other forums regarding this with myself stating that other magicians could be tainted with the "nonce" brush after this but I was shouted down.

urgh, what a horribly written piece of PR.
How many times does he have to tell us he has performed for Kate Moss. I haven't done magic to anyone important except the hundreds of people I see every week. I don't like this celebrity culture thing. Just because you've performed for someone famous doesn't make you any good.

Quote...
The specialist close-up magician who regularly performs at parties, functions and weddings now gets nervous about going out in the town because people whisper and stare.

Grow up!

p.s. what a poor promo picture fanning a pack of cards while cutting some cards in front of a wall of cards - do you think he does card tricks?

Lord Freddie wrote:other magicians could be tainted with the "nonce" brush after this

Meh, seems like the ones that were directly accused can even make it onto the telebox a few years later on!
so.... swings and roundabouts....

perhaps the nonce brush uses a non permenant paint

its not done him any favors, because presumably when you google his name, it comes up together with the offending words.I dont know if i would use it to publicize myself.

Jing is totally off the mark. Being mistaken for a paedo is not something people do for publicity.

Lord Freddie wrote:Jing is totally off the mark. Being mistaken for a paedo is not something people do for publicity.

I absolutely agree. I can't imagine anyone would take such a step. And let's be honest - it's likely the paper asked him for some photos and they chose, not him, the one they felt best looked magician-y.

This isn't a puff piece (a PR piece). It's a standard local interest story. The way newspaper stories are written is called a "pyramid". You start with the headline, then the next most important point, and so on. By the end, it's just rubbish designed to give a sub or picture editor some length/layout options. That is why Kate Moss (not the lovely author and all-round good egg Kate Mosse, but the coke-snorting gap-toothed clothes horse) is mentioned twice. Look at any written news item to see what I mean. Big points first, then little points, then the filler.

That article was published last October - has there been any further press mention? And can the chap walk down the street safely again?

It shocks me that a magician is more enraged by the press description of him rather than what he's been through because of Bellars dirty behaviour. Throughout the discussions regarding this case I've witnessed some really eyebrow raising attitudes from some magicians.

Lord Freddie wrote:It shocks me that a magician is more enraged by the press description of him rather than what he's been through because of Bellars dirty behaviour. Throughout the discussions regarding this case I've witnessed some really eyebrow raising attitudes from some magicians.

On other forums the attitude has certainly been shocking.