Episode 0204

That's right. Today we're going to take a look at how a court works, for example, in the United States. So you see that in movies and TV shows a lot, you know, the judge and all that.

That's right. Many of you have seen the the movie The Firm or 12 Angry Men. These are classics in you know, courtroom dramas, as we say. So today we're in a courtroom and there are many characters who are trying to determine if this person is innocent or guilty. So let's take a listen and find out what's going on.

Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. My client, Robert Malone, has been accused of a crime he did not commit. The prosecution has accused my client of being a pickpocket. I know we have heard the testimony of many people here today. People who claim the defendant, my client, stole their wallets. I feel sorry for these victims. I really do. But my client is innocent.

Let's look at the facts. Number one, these so-called witnesses did not actually see the defendant steal anything. Number two, when the police stopped him, he did not have any of the stolen wallets. There is no evidence. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to think carefully before giving your verdict. Look at the facts. Look at the evidence. My client is innocent.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

All right, we're back so you probably heard a lot of technical words that are specifically related to the courtroom, to lawyers, and the laws. So why don't we take a look at some of those now in language takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

The first language takeaway we're looking at today is all about people. So people you will find in a courtroom. Who's the first person on our list, Marco?

So the top person would be the judge.

The judge.

Now, you didn't really see this word judge in the uh in the dialogue, right?

You did hear though, the phrase, your honor.

Your honor.

So your honor.

So that's how you talk to a judge. You you always add your honor before it or something like that.

That's right. So you know, we say Mr. President when we're talking to to Barack Obama. But if we're talking to a judge, he's a special person in American society. So we call him or her your honor.

Your honor.

Okay. All right, your honor. The judge. That's our first person.

Okay. Who else do we have?

So we have the judge and now we have a group of 12 people who will ultimately decide if the person is guilty or not.

That's right. So these people are normal. They come from all different parts of society and they will decide what to do with this person. Is he guilty or is she innocent? This group is called the jury.

Okay. So the jury is a group of normal citizens who will listen to both sides of the story and will then decide if the person committed the crime or didn't commit the crime.

That's right, a jury. And the big question is, who's fighting? We have two sides. Someone who's upset and someone who is defending themselves.

The person who is upset, this is the prosecution.

Okay.

So the prosecution has a group of lawyers that are called the prosecutors, right?

That's right.

And they're trying to prove that that person committed the crime.

For example, I say that Marco burned down my house. I go to court, I say, I am the prosecution. I want him to pay me for my house. So I'm the prosecution.

Okay, so you're trying to not only prove that I committed the crime, but also trying to get uh me to pay for the damage that I caused.

Exactly. So in this case, the prosecution says, this man stole my wallet. He's a pickpocket.

And who is the pickpocket or maybe the pickpocket. Who's the other side of this?

The defendant.

Defend, defendant. Think about the word here. To defend is to stand up for yourself, to protect yourself.

Right.

So the defendant says, listen, no, that's not true. I am not a pickpocket.

I didn't do that.

So, we have the prosecution and the defense. Okay? And the person who might be guilty, the person who did the thing or didn't do the thing, is called the defendant.

Okay. So in your example again about the crime that maybe I burnt your house down or I didn't. Uh, I would be the defendant, and my lawyers would constitute my defense.

Yeah, they are your defense, okay?

Okay.

So very technical words, but the important thing to remember here is defendant.

All right.

Good. So now we have one key element that is also a person. We have the witness.

Right, so the basic idea, like you said, is we have to tell a story. My story is that you burned down my house. And you say, no, I didn't. Prove it. I say, I can. Someone saw you with a lighter.

Okay.

And so this person is my witness. That means that he or she saw what happened. So someone who sees a crime is a witness to that crime.

Okay, very good.

So a lot of people are in the courtroom. A lot of things are happening. So I think we should listen to the dialogue again and we'll be back to look at some more words on language takeaway part two.

Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. My client, Robert Malone, has been accused of a crime he did not commit. The prosecution has accused my client of being a pickpocket. I know we have heard the testimony of many people here today. People who claim the defendant, my client, stole their wallets. I feel sorry for these victims. I really do. But my client is innocent.

Let's look at the facts. Number one, these so-called witnesses did not actually see the defendant steal anything. Number two, when the police stopped him, he did not have any of the stolen wallets. There is no evidence. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to think carefully before giving your verdict. Look at the facts. Look at the evidence. My client is innocent.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

That's right.

So now we're going to take a look at the second part of language takeaway where we have another set of four words that we want to take a look at.

Language Takeaway.

All right, the first is actually two words. We have two opposites. Okay? So you said earlier, the jury has to make a decision.

Mhm.

The jury has to decide, is the defendant innocent or guilty?

Okay.

Okay, these are two important adjectives. Innocent. What does this mean?

So if he is innocent, that means he didn't commit the crime. He is not responsible for what happened. He did not steal the wallets.

Okay, so we often say babies are so innocent.

Right.

They can't do anything.

They can't do anything wrong.

Right.

So guilty would be the opposite.

That's right. So usually when someone is guilty, they're sad, they feel bad, you want them to pay you.

And they go to jail.

Yeah, in in bad situations they go to jail. If you burn down my house, of course you're going to go to jail.

Right.

All right, so guilty means you you did a crime. You did a bad thing.

So we talked about the prosecution and the and the defense of the defendant. And what happens is they also present some key elements that will prove if the person is innocent or guilty. And that those elements are called evidence.

That's right. So back to this idea, we tell a story. Maybe a witness can help us tell our story. But as you say, evidence is stuff. It's things. So in the case of the house, I could say you have matches and you smell like smoke and oil. This is evidence for me to use to show that you're guilty.

Right.

So in this case, do we have any evidence? There's no evidence, says the defendant.

Mhm. Right.

All right, so evidence is proof. It's physical proof.

It's proof. Yeah, and most of the times when you see movies or TV shows, they will find uh, I don't know, like maybe a fingerprint, that's evidence, or somebody's glasses.

A cellphone.

Exactly.

All right, so evidence, this is very important when you want to build a case. Finally, at the end of a trial, we have a verdict. Now, what is a verdict?

So a verdict is a final decision or a conclusion in which the jury says, yeah, the person is guilty or he's not guilty, he's innocent. So we use this word usually to reach a verdict. The jury reaches a verdict.

Now, it's interesting why we say to reach because a jury is not just one person. A jury is many people. And so these people have to decide together, they have to argue, they have to make a conclusion that everyone agrees on. And this this is to reach a conclusion, to reach a verdict, because they have to travel there, they have to go together and figure it out.

Right. That's very, very important. So the jury reaches a verdict.

And we did have one other phrase. It was very interesting, and it doesn't quite fit with the other ones. Uh, we heard this phrase from the defendant. The lawyer says, so these so-called witnesses didn't actually see anything.

Mhm. What is so-called?

So he's being sarcastic when he uses this phrase, so-called, right? That's why his even his tone changes these so-called witnesses. So it's a way of expressing sarcasm. He's saying, they say they are witnesses, but they're not really, because they didn't see anything.

All right, so so-called means you say that they are, but they're not really.

Right.

I could also say, your so-called lawyer thinks he can help you, but he can't.

Right.

That means, I don't think your lawyer is very good. I don't think he's a real lawyer.

Right. Or sometimes people say, my so-called friend stood me up last night.

So.

So it's not really a friend.

He's not really a friend, exactly.

So-called. All right, that's another good one. Let's listen to this dialogue one more time. Really think about some of the words you heard today, and we'll be back in a moment.

Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. My client, Robert Malone, has been accused of a crime he did not commit. The prosecution has accused my client of being a pickpocket. I know we have heard the testimony of many people here today. People who claim the defendant, my client, stole their wallets. I feel sorry for these victims. I really do. But my client is innocent.

Let's look at the facts. Number one, these so-called witnesses did not actually see the defendant steal anything. Number two, when the police stopped him, he did not have any of the stolen wallets. There is no evidence. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to think carefully before giving your verdict. Look at the facts. Look at the evidence. My client is innocent.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

All right, we're back. So now a very interesting situation with the courtroom dramas, and I've heard that all the people in the jury have to agree in order for them to reach a verdict, right? So if one of them is not convinced that the person is, for example, guilty, then they have to keep on deliberating, that's the word, right?

That's right. So basically, the jury is always alone in a room. Maybe they have a guard, but they're not supposed to talk to journalists or friends of the defendant or anyone because their decision is supposed to be pure. And so they talk and sometimes it takes 10 minutes. Everyone agrees. This person is guilty, or if this person is innocent. But sometimes they don't agree, and it can be one day, two days, a week, two weeks, a month trying to decide what to do. I remember I in the OJ Simpson case, the jury took a long time to figure out what they were going to do.

Now, we said that the jury are common citizens, they're normal people. So what happens in their jobs like if they can't go to work because they're they're doing this?

Well, in America, this job is called jury duty. And so someone will send you a letter, and they say, listen, you need to come do jury duty. And you help be a part of the jury, and your your job, they can't make you come because this is a this is a service for the government. And so it's above everything else. It's above, you get your normal pay. There's no problem. You you just don't work.

Okay. So they can't fire you if you're in jury duty for like five days or a month or whatever.

No, they can't. That's illegal.

Wow, that's really interesting. But a lot of people I've heard don't like to go to jury duty for some reason. Is it tedious?

No, it's probably very boring. I've never done it, but it's probably very boring.

I would imagine so.

All right, well, that's a very interesting topic. I'm sure in your countries laws are handled differently, maybe you don't have a courtroom. Maybe you have like in England, people wear wigs and uh and black robes. So let us know how it works in your countries. We'll see everyone at our website englishpod.com. And of course, if you have any questions or comments, you can leave those there as well.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

Succeed in making the finding of a jury in a trial.

Reach a verdict.

Responsible for doing something bad.

Guilty.

A respectful title used to or of certain judges.

Your honor.

A body of persons sworn to judge.

Jury.

To charge someone with a crime.

Accuse of.

To do something, usually a crime.

Commit.

The lawyers against the defendant.

Prosecution.

One who steals from pockets.

Pickpocket.

A declaration of truth or fact.

Testimony.

The person being sued or accused.

Defendant.

People affected by a painful or sad experience.

Victim.

Not guilty.

Innocent.

Refer to something that is not suitable.

So-called.

Something that shows the thing is true.

Evidence.

One who is called on to testify before a court.

Witness.

Let's try that faster.

To do something, usually a crime.

Commit.

A body of persons sworn to judge.

Jury.

Refer to something that is not suitable.

So-called.

Responsible for doing something bad.

Guilty.

A declaration of truth or fact.

Testimony.

One who steals from pockets.

Pickpocket.

The lawyers against the defendant.

Prosecution.

Something that shows the thing is true.

Evidence.

To charge someone with a crime.

Accuse of.

One who is called on to testify before a court.

Witness.

The person being sued or accused.

Defendant.

Not guilty.

Innocent.

Succeed in making the finding of a jury in a trial.

Reach a verdict.

People affected by a painful or sad experience.

Victim.

A respectful title used to or of certain judges.

Your honor.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Accuse of.

Martha accused me of stealing her boyfriend.

Accuse of.

This man is being accused with murder.

Accuse of.

The teacher accused the students of being lazy.

Testimony.

In your testimony, you stated that you were there at the moment of the crime.

Testimony.

The witness gave her testimony in court today.

Testimony.

The judge discarded her testimony since it was inaccurate.

So-called.

I have to go to my so-called job today. I hate it.

So-called.

I was betrayed by my so-called best friend.

So-called.

My so-called supervisor makes me do all the work while he is on the phone all day.

Reach a verdict.

The jury has reached a verdict, and we find the defendant not guilty.

Reach a verdict.

We disagree with the verdict and will appeal to the court's decision today.

Reach a verdict.

The judge still hasn't reached a verdict in this case.

Evidence.

There is evidence of life on Mars.

Evidence.

The forensic scientists recollect and analyze evidence found at the scene of the crime.

Evidence.

There is no evidence that proves your theory.