法不容情

Courthouse Love Affair Nets Prison Time

A Canadian man who had an affair with a juror during his murder trial was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for obstruction of justice. The British Columbia Supreme Court imposed a harsher sentence on Peter Gill than it did on the juror, Gillian Guess, who was convicted of the same charge. The court called Gill's actions during the murder trial an attempt to "subvert justice." Gill, 37, was convicted of having an affair with Guess in 1995 while she was serving on the panel that eventually acquitted him and four other defendants of killing two men in an alleged turf war between rival drug dealers. Guess, 47, was convicted of obstruction during a 1998 trial that received worldwide attention. She testified against Gill, saying he began the relationship by flirting while evidence of the murder allegation was being presented. "The circumstances of this crime are almost unimaginable and one can understand the fascination of the media and the public with them," Justice Barry Davis said in his decision sentencing Gill to five years and ten months in prison. Guess was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but spent only three months behind bars before she was paroled. Prosecutors attempted to use Guess's conviction as grounds for Gill to be tried a second time on the murder charge,but the case eventually was dropped.

一名加拿大男子在因谋杀受审期间与一位陪审员谈起了恋爱，他因妨害司法公正而被判将近6年监禁。不列颠哥伦比亚最高法院对彼得·基尔的量刑比对陪审员吉莉安·盖斯重，后者也被控同样的罪名。法院称基尔在受审期间的行为是企图“颠覆司法公正”。37岁的基尔被认定在1995年与时为陪审员的盖斯发生了恋爱关系，当时他和其他4名被告涉嫌在一场毒贩之间争夺地盘的火并中杀死了两名男子，陪审团最终宣布基尔等人无罪。47岁的盖斯在1998年被判定犯有妨害司法公正罪，那次审判引起了全世界的注意。盖斯作证指控基尔，说他在谋杀证物呈堂时开始向她大献殷勤，由此引发了这段感情。“这样的犯罪情事简直不可思议，媒体和公众对他们的密切关注完全可以理解，”法官巴里·戴维斯在判决中说，他的判决将使基尔在牢里呆上5年零10个月。盖斯被判入狱18个月，不过3个月后就获假释。主控官试图以盖斯罪名成立作为依据来对基尔的谋杀指控进行重审，但案件最终被撤销了。

Remarks：城下之盟如何信得？此事无关风月，只是利害而已。