MovieChat Forums > Broadchurch (2013) Discussion > The case can't be closed, right?

The case can't be closed, right?

posted 9 years ago by elliest_5
6 replies | jump to latest

OK so the jury found Miller not guilty, but surely that can't be the end of it. Isn't the case still open if they haven't found the killer? Surely, the dad should be the next one to go on trial, given the case made by the defense lawyer.

I know Miller IS guilty - based on last season and based on his reactions and interactions with the priest this season - but the law doesn't know this. Hardy shouldn't be leaving either, given that no one has been found guilty. He said it took him two years investigating the previous case and there have only been a few months with this one...

~*~

[–] Mandy999 9 years ago

The case against the dad is ludicrously circumstantial and with zero physical evidence. They wouldn't stand a chance of getting a conviction, so that leaves the case with no direction to go in.

Besides, "not guilty" doesn't mean the right man wasn't charged. It just means there wasn't enough evidence to convict him, so it doesn't necessarily follow that the killer must be someone else. I don't know if that's a legal thing though or just common sense.

[–] jalola298 9 years ago

Just because Sharon Bishop suggested Mark as the killer doesn't mean the police have anything to follow up. That was just her speculation -- as was the suggestion that Hardy and Ellie were having an affair and framed Joe to get him out of the picture.

In Scotland they have a third choice for court decisions -- "not proven". That was really what happened with Joe.

As to your original question, I don't believe that's it for the Danny Latimer case. A big hint is what Ben the lawyer said to the Latimers. The case can go back to trial if "new, compelling evidence" is found. It is logical that that is what Hardy will go searching for.

Why?
1. Like with the Sandbrook case, he failed the Latimer family and the town. I can't see him letting that rest and letting that failure stay on his detective record.
2. Ellie. More than getting things right for the Latimers' sake, he'll want to make her and her boys safe. They're not safe as long as Joe is out there.

[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 9 years ago

I'm curious, what's the other option other than "not proven" because in the US that's what juries find when someone is acquitted. The American criminal justice system doesnt find someone innocent, just not guilty, meaning that the state didn't prove their case. There's a number of cases where jurors have said that they think the accused probably did it but that it wasn't proven "beyond a reasonable doubt".

[–] jalola298 9 years ago

Like in the states, the second choice is "not guilty". Technically, "not guilty" does mean "not proven guilty"; but as we heard Joe Miller do, it is often mistaken to mean innocent.

[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 9 years ago

No, the case is closed. The arrest Joe Miller and tried him. The fact that he's acquitted doesn't change that. And Mark isn't going to go on trial because the prosecution knows he didn't do it.

[–] boxerrebellion 9 years ago

But the killer of the child has not been found. The case is open until that person is found... it may become a cold case (unsolved), but it isn't closed until it is solved.