JURORS were made aware of both men's criminal past and their use of weapons before they were asked to return a verdict.Usually, a jury is kept ignorant of past misdemeanours of those in the dock. They are told by the judge the prosecutors have to convince them of a person's guilty and each defendant appears before them with a clean slate.However, the Criminal Justice Act of 2003 allowed – in certain circumstances – prosecutors to inform a jury about a defendant's "bad character".The...
