Sirius without a Trial - In Perspective

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 158780

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ceridwen" <ceridwennight at ...> wrote:
>
> Steve/bboyminn
> > We see from the little canon that we have that Sirius
> did not do this. He was overwhelmed with shock, grief,
> depression, and mostly guilt. It is entirely possible
> that if they had given Sirius Veritaserum, and asked him
> if he was responsible for the Potter's deaths, he would
> have said 'yes' and in his mind he would have been
> telling the truth. We see that he is still reflecting
> this sense of quilt and responsibility 10 years later
> when he finally meets Harry face-to-face.
> 
> Ceridwen:
> That's true.  We had a locally sensational murder case some years 
> back.  The killers had gone free for fifteen years, and they were 
> finally being brought to court.  The victim's family and friends were 
> (literally) up in arms.  It could have turned out very messy.  The 
> second defendant, who was the only one left in town, was brought into 
> court to appear before the judge.  He was asked how he plead, and he 
> said, "Guilty."  There was no trial, he was simply moved to the 
> prison after that.
> 
> If Sirius felt such overwhelming guilt and grief at that time, he may 
> have admitted his guilt - as you said, it isn't the guilt the MoM or 
> Wizengamot thought it was, it was the guilt of unwittingly being the 
> agent of their destruction - and was therefore sent directly to 
> Azkaban without trial.
> 
> We do know that Sirius was in an uneven state.  He went after Peter 
> Pettigrew when he should have called for Aurors, and he laughed 
> maniacally at the destruction all around him when he was taken away.  
> We know he was crazed with grief and guilt.  Pleading guilty while in 
> that state wouldn't be a surprise to me.
> 
> Yeah, I know that Sirius's case is different from the Real Life case 
> I mentioned above, but someone pleading guilty for whatever reason 
> seems to negate the need for a trial.
> 
> Ceridwen.

Sue here:

The messages in this thread seem to be longish, so forgive me if I have missed something, 
but my own thoughts on this are that, a. we know that trials were not a big thing at the 
time of Sirius's arrest - even Barty Junior only got a very sketchy trial. b. Sirius seemed to 
be blatantly guilty - even that idiot Fudge honestly believed in his guilt at the time, 
judging by his reminiscences in the Three Broomsticks scene. His refusal to change his 
mind in PoA is another matter. By this time it was a matter of 'how do I keep my job?" c. 
During his time in prison, Sirius is having to cope with the Dementors. Since they are a 
personification of depression, he'd be very unlikely to be worrying about new trials or 
appeals, assuming the WW even HAS an appeal system - and on what evidence? d. 
Dumbledore couldn't help him even in PoA, though he tried. So how would he have been 
able to help during those years?