Billy Joe Friend

Years in prison:
8
Year of crime:
1995
Year conviction was overturned:
2004

Billy Joe Friend was convicted of murder. The killing had been committed by his older brother, who Billy had called in to sort out an altercation between friends. The case against him rested on the doctrine of joint enterprise and there were tricky questions about his intent in fetching his brother and his foresight of violence. Although Billy had a mental age of 8, the judge rejected the application that no adverse inference should be drawn if he decided not to give evidence. On appeal, new evidence showed that Billy suffered from ADHD which supported the conclusion that he would have been unable to follow trial proceedings and the jury should not have drawn adverse inference from his silence. His conviction was quashed and judges agreed that a retrial was not in the public interest.

View Press (news.bbc.co.uk)

View Press (www.kentonline.co.uk)

View Press (justice.org.uk)

< Back to Case Search < Back to Overview Graph

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Evidence-Based Justice Lab

Privacy and Cookie Policy | Image Credits

PROJECT PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS