McLIBEL -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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Reconstruction from court transcripts
[Helen Steel] We just had no idea of the procedure, or what we had to say, or when we had to say it. You know, who spoke in what order.
[Dave Morris] We were just treated like, you know, "What are these people doing in my courtroom?" I mean, at the first hearing we asked the judge to explain the procedures, and he said, "If you don't know the procedures, you should be represented." And we said, "Well, there's no legal aid. What are we meant to do?"
[Keir Starmer, Barrister] We pride ourselves on having a legal system which is the best in the world and we pride ourselves on the fact that we've all got free speech. But in reality, of course, that simply isn't the situation.
[Dave Morris] You don't get free lawyers for libel cases, so we had to represent ourselves. But luckily, Keir came along early on and volunteered to help us out with legal advice.
[Keir Starmer, Barrister] I immediately saw that McDonald's had a very strong legal team, and that it was a complicated case, raising all sorts of legal issues. And as soon as I saw the unbalance, I decided that I would do what I could to help them. The libel laws in England were notoriously anti-free speech because of the burdens they put on defendants to prove so much of the case. So in this case, David and Helen have to prove the truth of everything that's in the leaflet. McDonald's can sit back and prove nothing. That's a huge and disproportionate burden. [AB-1] _______________ American-Buddha Librarian's Comments: [AB-1] Guilty until proven innocent.
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