A new series on SBS is providing a fascinating viewing experience into the justice system, and prejudices and preconceptions in Australian society.
The Jury: Death on the Staircase is a five part series that takes a real life case and recreates in front of a cast of 12 everyday Australian who serve as a jury for the case.
The baffling manslaughter case has changed the names of the accused and victim, but it’s a well known case that occurred in Sydney as is easily identifiable. If you are aware of the real life case, or stumble across it’s full details it doesn’t take away from the experience of watching this series.
The first two episodes are available to watch online, with new episodes arriving each Wednesday.
The case centres around a gay Asian man, who in the series is named Sean, who has been charged with manslaughter over the death of his long term partner, Carlo.
As the jury sit through the testimony of first responders, medical experts and police investigators the picture of how Carlo came to pass is not clear, although it’s revealed her suffered a variety of injuries with his body at the base of the stairs of his inner city terrace.
Quickly the jurors begin discussing what they’ve heard in the Deliberation Room. With an incomplete picture some begin to promote a wide range of theories about what might of occurred.
The jurors are from a wide range of backgrounds, a former prison officer, an advertising executive whose a member of MENSA, an elderly widow, an entertainer, a yoga instructor, and a sexologist are among the twelve reviewing the evidence.
Slowly more information about Sean and Carlo is slowly revealed as different witnesses take to the stand.
The accounts from neighbours, friends and acquaintances give differing views of the couple’s interaction with each other.
Like the layers of an onion being peeled away, more and more information about the couples life is revealed, and each juror tires to interpret what their hearing through their lens of their own experiences, relationships and, biases and beliefs.
While the jury are warned against speculating what might have happened, yet many of them quickly put forward ideas on what might have been factors that led to Carlo’s death, despite their being no evidence to support some of their theories.
Tosca Looby, the director of the series, says while there was a lot of planning in the creation of the series, the jury’s final verdict is an outcome they had no control over.
“Creating this series has been a career highlight. It has required collaboration with a fabulous team across both drama and documentary, courts, and legal professionals and, most importantly, twelve ordinary citizens willing to put themselves to the test in a criminal trial. Despite months of precise planning, the final outcome was out of our hands and impossible to predict.” Looby said.
Catch the series on SBSonDemand and see new episodes on Wednesday nights at 8.30pm on SBS TV and online.
