The Case in One Minute

The jury in Russell Brand’s trial began considering its verdicts on Tuesday, November 3, after Judge Joel Bennathan finished explaining the evidence and law at Southwark Crown Court in London. Reuters reports that jurors were sent out shortly before 2:50 p.m. GMT, which is 7:50 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. That is an approximate reported time, not a court-certified minute.

Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to three rape charges, three sexual assault charges and one attempted indecent assault charge. Six women have made allegations involving events between 1999 and 2009. These are allegations before a jury, not findings of guilt.

Why It Matters

After weeks of testimony and arguments, the case has moved into a new phase. The lawyers no longer make their closing cases to the jury. The jurors must now decide, charge by charge, whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. Judge Bennathan told them a verdict must be unanimous, according to the Associated Press.

Go Deeper

On October 30 prosecutors completed their closing arguments. On November 2 the defense finished its closing speech. On the morning of November 3 the judge began summing up the evidence. The next step occurred later that day: the judge sent the jury out to deliberate. Read FITF’s November 3 account of the judge’s summing-up for the earlier phase, and the November 2 defense closing report for the previous day’s record.

What the Jurors Were Told

Judge Bennathan instructed the 12 jurors to reach a unanimous decision. Jurors decide the facts from evidence they heard in court and the legal directions the judge gave them. The prosecution bears the burden of proof. A person accused of a crime does not have to prove innocence.

Jurors will weigh the complainants’ evidence, Brand’s testimony and the arguments of both sides. Prosecutors say the women described nonconsensual acts. Brand denies the offenses, testified that consent was essential to him, and his lawyers challenged the timing and reliability of the allegations. These competing accounts are for the jury to assess.

What Happens Next

Deliberations have begun. No verdict has been verified in the sources used for this report. The time it takes a jury to reach a decision cannot be predicted from a start time. A verdict, further instructions, a jury question, a mistrial or a new court date must not be reported as occurring unless confirmed by a reliable court record or independently corroborated courtroom reporting.

The court-reporting record gives an approximate jury send-out time of just before 2:50 p.m. GMT, but not an exact court-stamped minute. FITF must not start a supposedly exact live jury count-up using an invented timestamp. Until the clock’s starting instant is authenticated, the permanent Jury Watch should display the verified JURY DELIBERATING status without a fictional timer.

This article is a dated snapshot of what was publicly verified on November 3. It will not silently acquire a future outcome. Any later verdict or court development belongs in a separately dated report and the case chronology.