Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)
  • Jury Service – i've been summoned!
  • gavtheoldskater
    Free Member

    just had an xmas card form Her Majesty inviting me to the crown court in feb to sit on a jury.

    not sure what to think or indeed expect, anyone got any experience of being summoned to a jury?

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Yep, did it years ago. It varies between the boredom of waiting around, the concentration of paying attention to some thing really important, and then the stress of making a judgement.

    It's hard work, IMO. But I'm glad I did it. It's very interesting, really.

    uplink
    Free Member

    If you go through the wrong door you could be on the stand & sent down in the blink of an eye – be careful

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    Mister-P
    Free Member

    All I remember was sitting around waiting for something to happen. Then going home.

    Pete
    Free Member

    Take a book to read, there can be lots of sitting around. You can change your date but only once.

    I found it fascinating watching and being part of the judicial process.

    bigbloke
    Free Member

    Gav…in the same boat as you just been called up for february as well,hope its interesting, but have been warned by others of loooooooong periods of nothing but waiting.

    SammySammSamm
    Free Member

    There'll be a large group of you – in my experience, some will get sent home on the first day with instructions to call in the evening to find out if they're needed the next day. The rest will wait around for a case, individual juries are chosen randomly. When you're on a case, it'll be for as long as it takes – mine was the full 2 weeks. If yours takes less time, you'll probably go through the waiting process again. There were some people who had several little cases with a lot of waiting in between.
    Stressful, but rewarding. You get to meet a random cross section of society – mine came complete with self-important CEO blokes. Good fun if you happen to be the foreman, chairing the deliberation, as well as the youngest member by a long way!

    Munqe-chick
    Free Member

    I haven't done it but know a few who have! And yup all of the above! a lot of hanging around then getting sent out for legal arguments etc etc. I would love to do jury service (being a copper) I want to sit on the other side and see how it goes!!! Let us know your experiences (but obviously not the details of the case).

    ourmaninthenorth
    Full Member

    It wasn't *that* long ago (in the context of trial by jury) that the likes of me (lawyer) were unable to be caled. Now we are, and I'd rather like a go. Indeed, I've never been to court.

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    I found it interesting, if only for to see how the CPS/Defense barristers approached the case.

    In the 1st case a young lad was accused of breaking & entering into a newly built property and was found with a pile of copper piping at his feet. His defence was that he went in there for a pee!
    To get in he had to scale a 9ft brick wall, a 5ft chain-link fence and then break through the plywood security covers.

    Of course we found him guilty, but the interesting thing was seeing how the defence team, knowing it was an impossible case sent out their most junior barrister so she could gain court experience.

    burgerbob
    Full Member

    Mine was a drugs case 7 weeks long and I now know more about drugs than bikes!
    Dont do drugs kids.
    Some of the witnesses thought they were the accused they were so paranoid,Heroin is such a bad drug they went from normal to shadows in months.
    Hats off to the police for having to deal with the worst aspects of society and receive no thanks.
    Mine were all found guilty Im glad to say, The deliberation was quite good because of the cross section of society in the jury( from university lecturers to housewives, naive and not so)
    We played a game of guess the age of the policeman and were out almost every time (they were 5 years younger mostly)
    Also if any of the defendants looked at one of the jury in an aggressive way we had a pre-arranged cough and every jury member stared them out.
    Now Im self employed I don't think the experience would be as much fun though

    satsoma
    Free Member

    Also if any of the defendants looked at one of the jury in an aggressive way we had a pre-arranged cough and every jury member stared them out.

    Awesome 🙂

    gavtheoldskater
    Free Member

    Mine was a drugs case 7 weeks long

    oh my, i'm self employed to and if that happens it'll cost me heaps and heaps (in fact it will be completely disastrous to my finances)… not too mention that i live in the sticks and my wife does'nt drive so goodness knows how the kids will get to school.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Mine was a bloke who threw a shoe at a cop car. The defence and the prosecution really couldn't be bothered. Mainly cos they knew what we didn't – that the guy was a consistent offender (a piss-head, basically).

    allthepies
    Free Member

    I enjoyed it, you'll see where all the money is wastedspent in the legal system though! Daily start times are late and finish times early, just hope you get selected for a trial or two as the hanging around ain't good.

    In one of my trials the defendant (a scouser) went on the lash in the evening before the verdict, it was his birthday. He then turned up late the next day, delaying the whole court and proceeded to fall asleep in the dock. The judge had to get his brief to give him a shake to wake him up – didn't go down well when the beak handed out the sentence 😆

    Coyote
    Free Member

    you'll see where all the money is wastedspent in the legal system though!

    +1!

    I had the biggest waste of judicial time ever. Racially aggravated assault. Little mixed race bloke, about 7 stone soaking wet, was accused of racially assaulting a 6'5" blonde haired, blue eyed copper. Funny the defendant has most of the injuries… Reading between the lines, this copper had lost it with the smart arsed comments and whacked him one. The assault charge was trumped up as a cover up. Needless to say we found him not guilty.

    On the Friday afternoon of the trial, the judge adjourned early as he "had a golf match arranged and this seems like a good time to break". Mind blowing.

    rootes1
    Full Member

    yep just done 2 weeks at the coroners court.. prison deaths – v depressing

    ozzo
    Free Member

    I'm sure that if your self employed, no one to look after kids if your away etc etc , you could away with not doing it. I believe it's hard to get off doing it but you can in exceptional circumstances.

    SonicTheHedgehog
    Free Member

    I did 2 weeks of it a while ago. Had 2 different cases to do. One for 6 days and another for 2 days.
    For me the worst bit was at the very start when you have to swear by almighty god…….. in front of the court with a bible in your hand. made me perspire lots!!! Once that bit was over I really loved it. Had a traveller type who represented himself, very, very entertaining. But you mustn't ever laugh, that is really frowned upon.
    Had one guilty and one not guilty verdict.
    As above though, lots of waiting and it is possible for you to be there for a few weeks and never even get into the courtroom. Like on standby.
    Make sure you fill in the expenses claim form thoroughly!!!
    Good luck

    snowslave
    Full Member

    I did it many years ago and got 2 cases to be a juror on. Both cases were a complete waste of court/police/taxpayers money, but on the positive side it was good to see how seriously people took even these minor cases.

    I thought if it's going to wreck your business you can ask to be let off?

    Andituk
    Free Member

    I did a week one year before christmas, spent 4 days staring at the wall and then got sent home. Lost count of how many times a defendent pleaded guilty at the last minute, after everything had been arranged at great cost.

    Luckily court closed for Christmas the second week, so I didn't have to go back.

    Should imagine its much more interesting if you actually get to see a case though..

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    I refused to swear on the bible.

    You can opt to take another oath which is what i did – not my fault the clerk of the court couldn't find the form and delayed the court 10 minutes whilst he hunted for it! 😆

    Best thing was, your wages are paid by the system before tax so you end up better off, plus you can claim for travel and meal expenses.

    mtbfix
    Full Member

    Make sure you fill in the expenses claim form thoroughly!!!

    I trust you are not advocating an MP style fleecing of the system?

    tails
    Free Member

    just send them down. 😀

    Sounds crap, and very easy to get out of.

    druidh
    Free Member

    I was on a rape case a few years back – it wasn't pleasant. Not, as you might have thought, in terms of the alleged attack, but in the behaviour of some of the jurors.

    emac65
    Free Member

    I did it a few years back & loved every minute of it.Mainly because I was sent home after 20 minutes every day bar two on full pay,sometimes it helps living 30 mile from where you work 8)

    handyman
    Free Member

    I did 2 weeks but a guy where i used to work did a fraud case and spent 9 months on jury sevice,

    You don't have to do it. Just turn up on day one and say your views are so left wing that you think all defendants are victims of an oppressive police state.

    Alternatively say that if the defendants are gypsies or slightly foreign looking then they must be guilty regardless.

    You'll be on your way home within the hour. A prison officer (who I knew on a social basis) told me that.

    MrTall
    Free Member

    I had to sit through an entire day of court proceedings once back in my Uni days. It was mind numbingly boring to listen to statements being read out for hours. Although it was a very 'interesting' case i still wouldn't have liked to have had to sit through the whole trial.

    The bloke was found guilty of bashing his lodgers head in with a hammer, cutting him into pieces and then leaving him in bags around the west country…… After the verdict it was found out that he had just been released from prison after cutting a prostitutes head off some years earlier!

    And still the trial was boring………

    allthepies
    Free Member

    @daveatextremistsdotcouk – Or on a charge for contempt of court 😉

    blaggers
    Free Member

    You could probably get out if it if you wanted. I filled in the forms like I was a demented extremist (lock em all up, police are corrupt, etc) and got a call a few days before saying I didnt have to attend as they were oversubscribed!

    markenduro
    Free Member

    Did it about 10 years ago, interesting assault case and all 3 defendants got sent down. There are ways of getting out of it, you get asked at the beginning if you ever go to places where you are likely to meet defendants/victims etc, just say yes and you get put back into the pool.

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    I have been called as well. Rather looking forward to it

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    Bad news if you're self employed.

    I was at the time, there's a cap on expenses and in my case, it was waaaaay short.

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    Oh, and agree, you will get a couple of jurors who are painfully stupid.

    I was doing a death inquest of a lifer who committed suicide. His original crime was murder. This one girl was so focused on how she felt he deffo "did it".

    Several times we explained to her that he was sentenced years ago by another jury – of course he did it. She couldn't get her head around that we were supposed to be establishing the cause of death and contributing factors. In the end she kind of sulked a bit and then started moaning about why we couldn't just say what we need to say and go home…

    Massive facepalm.

    Muke
    Free Member

    I did a 5 month case in Winchester and loved it.

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    I've got what is supposed to be a one day long Coroner's court in february. It better not be more than that as I am having a long weekend in wales starting that evening!

    I have worked in and around our local mental health services for 9 years so am a little worried I might know either the deceased or any doctors/social workers etc involved. Should I mention this before I turn up or just wait and see who it is and who is involved?

    haakon_haakonsson
    Free Member

    It's a bit late if you've already been called up, but if you're self employed you can take out Jury Service insurance that pays out to cover lost earnings.

    Obviously, depending on the nature of your work, you do have the added risk of losing customers if you're unable to work for a while, but it may be worth looking into.

    I'm a member of the Professional Contractors Group (http://www.pcg.org.uk ), and get Jury Service insurance as part of my membership – I'm sure that other trade bodies would offer a similar service.

    On a more practical note, I'd also heard the advice that voicing opinions like "if he wasn't guilty, he wouldn't be here" in front of the defence team tends to get you excused from parade.

    piedidiformaggio
    Free Member

    Little mixed race bloke, about 7 stone soaking wet

    Was it PaddedFred?

    Sonor
    Free Member

    I did mine earlier this year, a man touching a child in an inappropriate area, so to speak.

    We were only in there two days, There was a lot of to'ing and throwing with the legal arguments, one day where a member of the Jury was ill, so we couldn't sit and then the case was dismissed on a technicality.

    The thing is the jury felt that the evidence was circumstantial and the dna samples they were using were low copy number dna, which even the expert from the lab the Police use said wasn't enough for prosecution when he took the stand. The man also had severe learning difficulties and the only witness was the child.

    It really made me realise how p*ss poor the Police and the CPS were on trying to get a prosecution on this occasion.

    Other than that a lot of waiting around in the jury waiting area, got selected for another jury, but didn't get chosen in court, so after they released me from any more jury service and went home.

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