"That's just it, Harry, Sirius Black never got a trial, he was arrested and carted off to Azkaban without one. According to a newspaper article, the spokesman for Millicent Bagnold, who was Minister of Magic at the time, made a statement that, because of the state of emergency the Magical World was in; Death Eaters such as Sirius Black fell into the category of criminals that weren't entitled to a trial. Apparently, someone tried to question the Minister about why Sirius was quoted as yelling at Pettigrew, accusing him of betraying the Potters, but the Minister didn't answer, her spokesman said that Black was obviously deranged."