A few weeks ago, pro-independence activist Edward Leung was cleared of inciting the 2016 “Fishball Riots,” in a trial that saw the nine-member jury take five days to reach a verdict — reportedly the longest amount of time spent by a panel of jurors deliberating in recent memory.
Why it took so long for the jurors to reach their majority not guilty verdict remained a mystery until today, when the High Court lifted a court reporting ban on the reason for the delay.
For one thing, at least two hours and 49 minutes of the delay can be attributed to jurors watching Saving Private Ryan together.
But screening the now-classic World War II saga wasn’t the only thing jurors got up to while they held the fate of a young political activist in their hands.
According to the Hong Kong Economic Times, the jury retired to consider their verdict on Monday, March 18. On Thursday, March 21, Justice Albert Wong received messages from two court ushers that they heard laughter inside the jury lounge at 10pm the previous evening.
One of the court ushers also told Wong that they heard voices that didn’t belong to any of the jurors, Chinese wedding banquet music, someone talking about beer and chicken wings, and one male juror say, “Let’s take a photo and put it in the group.”
In Hong Kong jury trials, jurors are told by the court that when they retire to deliberate they are in strict isolation, are not allowed to contact anyone outside the jury room, and must leave behind any cellphones or communication-enabled devices.
Concerned that some of the jurors may have snuck a cellphone into the juror’s room, Wong called both court ushers to the stand on Thursday, where they were questioned by the defense and prosecution as to what they heard. The possibility of the jurors’ isolation being broken raised concerns that they could be dismissed, forcing another retrial, and compromising millions of dollars in legal fees.
Wong issued a blanket ban on all media outlets reporting on the incident until the case had formally closed.
After both court ushers were questioned on the stand, Wong decided to send questionnaires to all nine jurors asking them if they had listened to or watched any audiovisual materials not provided by the court on Wednesday night, and if so, what.
In their replies, seven of the jurors revealed that they watched Saving Private Ryan and one of the male jurors’ wedding video during a break in deliberations.
But despite the riveting drama of both films, the court eventually ruled that there was not enough evidence to suggest they had affected the jury’s ruling.
The court declined to reveal what devices were used to watch the videos, whether they were confiscated, or if anyone was punished for breaching security protocols.
Leung, the former spokesperson for the group Hong Kong Indigenous, was acquitted of inciting a riot after the jury failed to return a sufficient number of guilty votes. Despite the acquittal, he returned to jail to serve the rest of a six-year sentence for assaulting a police officer and taking part in the Mong Kok riot.
Leung’s retrial was combined with the trials of Lee Nok-man, Lam Ngo-hin and Yung Wai-ip who were also involved with the riots. Lee and Lam were acquitted of rioting, while Yung — who is often referred to as “Captain America” for turning up to protests with the Marvel hero’s shield — was found guilty of two of the four counts of rioting and of assaulting an officer.
Yung was due to be sentenced today, but on.cc reports that Wong postponed the hearing until May 9.
According to Stand News, the court reporting ban on the incident was lifted because the trial for all four men had concluded.
