Jury Service

Jury Service was the most pointless and boring 4 weeks of my life. 9 days sat around doing nothing, get called into a case on the final day only to spend another 2 weeks listening to evidence before the judge chucked us out as we were unable to agree.

Never again.
 
JunglistE said:
Jury Service was the most pointless and boring 4 weeks of my life. 9 days sat around doing nothing, get called into a case on the final day only to spend another 2 weeks listening to evidence before the judge chucked us out as we were unable to agree.
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What sort of case was it? (Obvs I know you can't reveal specific details that might identify the case or specifics about the disagreement)

Did the defendant get to walk because you couldn't agree or did he/she need a retrial?

Did you think they were guilty?
 
dowie said:
Yeah that would be super annoying/frustrating on top of any other issues. I mean ideally, if you have to do it, then it would be good to be able to send down a few scumbags at least.
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There are a lot of scumbags on the juries too.

In a case where a ned (chav) had ran someone over with their car (deliberately) whilst having no road tax or insurance. A ned on jury duty as soon as we got into deliberations said. Well he's going to get done for having no road tax and insurance, that is enough. Basically let him off trying to kill someone. Fair to say he was shot down quite quickly. He was referred to the point we aren't here to discuss that but the fact he ran this person over and only that. Not anything else.

They really shouldn't let anyone who is unemployed, uneducated or well below average IQ on juries. Its frightening to think this guy could have gotten away with it if his fellow ned had managed to sway some people and luckily someone was there to shoot him down and keep him quiet.

I've been called 3 times. One was a juicy case again involving a drug dealing ned who had several fire arms, ammunition and drugs in a lock-up. he was very young too and blaming all the weapons on his partner in crime saying his partner was the enforcer and he was just a dealer.
 
dowie said:
What sort of case was it? (Obvs I know you can't reveal specific details that might identify the case or specifics about the disagreement)

Did the defendant get to walk because you couldn't agree or did he/she need a retrial?

Did you think they were guilty?
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It was a hit and run case, the police in this instance being the victim and suffered quite a few bad injuries.

The defendant had to get a retrial as far as I am aware, i believe that is what the judge said when he dismissed us. This was in about 2007.

I wasn't sure beyond reasonable doubt that the person they were accusing was guilty. The room was fairly split. My reasoning for not thinking he was guilty was that there was no DNA evidence of him being in the car despite being searched thoroughly and the description the police gave mentioned he had a sleeve style tattoo when the defendant had a tiny little thing at shoulder height.

I do wish I had a really juicy murder case but sadly it was super boring. If only I had a gaming laptop by then! Though with smartphones being more common it wouldn't be as bad, just put a few podcasts on.
 
Efour said:
Exactly, just go in and say I don't like black people or something idiotic. Instant dismissal.
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I don't know how it works down in England but in Scotland they don't ask you anything. The jury is picked from the ones who turn up and they then stick you in the jurors box and the rest have to sit there until all the charges are read out then they are free to leave and the jury remains.

You aren't spoken to much at all.
 
@JunglistE Ah interesting, thanks :)

Yeah there seem to be a few comments about people hanging around for a long time, I'd be tempted to buy a Nintendo switch or PSP etc.. and/or bring in a tablet with Netflix series downloaded on it if I had to do it.
 
I think the only questions I got asked where if I knew the defendant. I can't remember much else happening. I'd get in, speak to the man at the desk and then just wait to see if you got called up. Then they'd explain the protocol to follow.
 
dowie said:
@JunglistE Ah interesting, thanks :)

Yeah there seem to be a few comments about people hanging around for a long time, I'd be tempted to buy a Nintendo switch or PSP etc.. and/or bring in a tablet with Netflix series downloaded on it if I had to do it.
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I did bring a PSPGo to play some FFVII on but the battery life on that thing was rubbish! The only benefit to the whole thing I enjoyed was at the time I was doing retail store work, this was a nice break from that.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
I don't know how it works down in England but in Scotland they don't ask you anything. The jury is picked from the ones who turn up and they then stick you in the jurors box and the rest have to sit there until all the charges are read out then they are free to leave and the jury remains.

You aren't spoken to much at all.
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I got the old bailey so maybe it's special but we got a very brief outline of the case and asked if anyone had anything that would hinder them being able to be on the case.

Come to think of it it deffo was a "special" case, not juicey murder, but big numbers, VAT fraud, 4 defendants.

I got a letter exempting me from jury service again, not that I live there now anyway...
 
The problem is the financial compensation from doing Jury service would result in a significant loss of earnings for me, which I'm not willing to bear, so I'd be looking to swerve it too. I'm all for "doing my bit" but not if its going to have an adverse impact on my financial situation.
 
Never been called, though I would like to have a go at it. Loss of earnings not an issue, now I've retired... :)

Wife got called a few years back but it was a couple of weeks before Christmas, so the court was winding down. She almost got to sit on a case but the prosecutor went off on the sick so it got postponed and not long after she was discharged from further attendance.
 
I did jury service in 1986 and would happily do it again. Only had 1 day in the 2 weeks where I wasn't on a jury.
 
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