[HPforGrownups] Was Sirius railroaded? And what was his view?

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 192709

I'm sorry, I can't give the original poster attribution, as the name isn't showing up in the email headers, and there's no signature. But I loved the post, and I have some thoughts.

You wrote:
1. I've always been bothered by the ease with which SB was sentenced to life in prison amongst the Dementors.

I don't have my copy of PoA handy, but IIRC he was convicted based on "all that was left of Peter Pettigrew was a finger", and "several dead Muggles".  And that's the total sum of the evidence.


Sherry now:

I would add also to the evidence, that Dumbledore *assumed* Sirius was the secret Keeper and presumably he told the then minister of magic and the head of magical law enforcement so. 

In POA Sirius's imprisonment could have seemed logical or understandable, except for my outrage over anyone not receiving a fair trial and the right to defend himself. But by the end of the series, I found the fate of Sirius to be an even greater travesty. By then, we knew about the spell to check the last spells performed by a wand. We knew about Truth serum, and we knew about legilimency. A combination of these things would surely have proven his innocence. As you say, even the LeStranges and other known Death Eaters were given trials. It's never outright said in canon, but Sirius being a traitor was awfully convenient for Dumbledore, because if he'd been free, I can't see him agreeing to let Harry live with the Dursleys, and there would have been nothing Dumbledore could have done. Why weren't all these options performed to prove once and for all the truth about Sirius? And in a way, how frightening that the unsubstantiated word of one man, Dumbledore, could hold so much sway that nobody even thinks to say, "well, that's all fine and well, but we should at least go through the motions, so nobody can come back later and try to say we didn't give him a fair trial."

Truly, I don't hate Dumbledore, but my opinion of his goodness changed a lot over the course of the series, and the experience of Sirius was a large part of that.


Sherry