Friend, Billie Joe

Billy Joe Friend was convicted in May 1996 of murder and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in May 2000.

Mr Friend had called his older brother to intervene in an altercation between friends. Mr Friend’s brother subsequently killed the victim.

At trial, the case against Mr Friend rested on the doctrine of joint enterprise. The jury were therefore presented with difficult questions around intent and foresight.

Mr Friend was aged 14 at trial but was considered to have a lower mental age.

An application was made that although Mr Friend was fit to stand trial, his mental condition made it undesirable for him to give evidence.

The defence argued that no adverse inference should be drawn if Mr Friend declined to give evidence.

The judge rejected this application and after Mr Friend was not put up to give evidence, the judge directed the jury that it was open to them to draw an adverse inference from the fact that he had not done so.

During review, the CCRC obtained fresh expert evidence indicating that Mr Friend suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

This supported the conclusion that he would have been unable to follow trial proceedings and it should not have been left to the jury to draw an adverse inference from his failure to give evidence.

In addition, there were related issues around the admissibility of evidence from police interview.

The CCRC referred the conviction in September 2003.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in October 2004.