The judge in the murder trial of the British au pair, Louise Woodward, yesterday came under intense pressure from both sides of the Atlantic to overturn the jury's guilty verdict. As the 19-year-old's lawyers prepared written statements for submission today to Judge Hiller Zobel, thousands of people expressed their support for Woodward in demonstrations, petitions and messages on the Internet.
In London, Mrs Hillary Clinton, avoided demonstrators picketing the US Embassy by entering a reception there via the back door, while in Woodward's homevillage of Elton, Cheshire, prayers were said for the jailed teenager. A vigil was held at Dublin's US Embassy.
Judge Zobel will receive Woodward's lawyers' statement today and then study case law before tomorrow's hearing at the Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where lawyers will plead against the jury's decision.
Their claim that the jury was wrong to convict Woodward of the second-degree murder of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen has received massive support worldwide - even in Massachusetts, where local newspapers and radio have been swamped with messages from angry and bewildered Americans. The mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, with no chance of parole for 15 years, has been criticised as excessively harsh by hundreds of callers to the US Embassy in London.
But the Middlesex District Attorney, Mr Thomas Reilly, who took the decision to charge Woodward with murder, defended the verdict, saying: "The jury is being criticised and we are being criticised, for convicting a child killer. It's incomprehensible to me, this reaction. Maybe the public thought it was some kind of soap opera they were watching on television, and it wasn't. A baby is dead and this is real."
Judge Zobel will have four options after hearing arguments tomorrow. He can quash the conviction, he can order a retrial, reduce the conviction to manslaughter, or allow the second degree murder verdict to stand. Several US lawyers have predicted he will impose a manslaughter verdict, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years but could attract a far lighter punishment.
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the defence will ask Judge Zobel to call for a retrial on the grounds that the prosecution presented last-minute photographic evidence which seriously prejudiced the defence case. Shortly after Woodward's defence testimony, the prosecution entered two photographs taken last February 4th which showed clearly Matthew Eappen's fractured skull.
Although prosecution lawyers yesterday admitted the photographs had been in the state's possession for nine months they confirmed they were only found after the chief medical examiner was cleaning out an office cupboard. A source from the Commonwealth office admitted it had been a "terrible cock-up".
Three of the 12 jurors have admitted they would have preferred the option of a manslaughter charge. They said they had all agreed Woodward was guilty of committing violence which led to Matthew's death.
In Dublin, at a candle-lit vigil outside the US embassy, the Louise Woodward for Justice support group called for an acquittal when the trial resumes tomorrow.
Dublin vigil expresses anger and sorrow; US opposition growing to verdict: page 15