Your Experiences Of Jury Service

[agchristie]

Wot are your experiences of being on a jury? What pressures did you feel and were u happy with the outcome?

Ive never done it and wud hate it.

[tonyav]

Last birthday, jj !
What do you mean ?

[jourdain2]

I've been longing to be called for jury service - but it never happened and now I'm to old, it appears. :(

[agchristie]

Jourdain,if ure good enuf ure old enuf!

[Jackdaw33]

Yes, you are no longer eligible when you reach 70.

[Peter Pedant]

agree tony av
almost word for word

[tonyav]

You haven't missed much, jourdain ( unless you are on a high profile court case ).

[jim360]

Been a juror on a case once. Charge of rape. Acquittal (verdict was "not proven", as this was a Scottish Court) I'm not sure if I'm "happy" with the decision or not, although it was almost certainly the right one on the evidence presented. I felt sorry for everybody involved. I suppose, by the usual rules of being a juror, it's hard to be more specific than this. Aren't we supposed to keep silent about the case, or at least what led us to our verdict?

[Ellipsis]

Yes, Jim.

[Peter Pedant]

we all took it seriously - we were very aware that if we convicted a 16 y o then that wd be the end of his normal productive life
we did - he had done it

[marval]

I have done it twice, the first time was at the Old Bailey. It was a bank robbery. It lasted a week.

The second time was a farce, we all turned up and did nothing. The Man had pleaded guilty, so we were not wanted. Every day we had to wait for a text by five pm, to let us know if we were wanted and at which court. We only spent one day actually on a case.

[wolf63]

I got called up for jury duty a couple of years ago. My GP wrote them a nice little letter explaining that I wasn't a good choice.

[-SharonA-]

A work colleague was summoned for jury service and took her a long time to get over it as she got a notorious case at the time. Very violent and graphic, not to mention she had to stay in hotel because of jury nobbling.
It was bad enough reading about it in the papers, I remember cue sticks were involved.

[tonyav]

Susan, a doctors note is pretty much the only way that you can get out of it.

Luck of the draw that, Sharon. Luckily I didn't get a case like the one that your work colleague got.

[Peter Pedant]

Jim - I think it is more - I was a juror on myra hindley case and I dont think she did no 3 kind of detail
I wd be amazed if any one cd identify the cases I was on

and also incredibly - I dont have pack drill - a judge has said comments on twitter was NOT discussing a case !

we had - "it had better be not guilty!" shouted at us as we trooped up the steps of the court, which made the girlies swoon, and the men were going to bring in staves the next day .... yes you are right - to clout the relatives with ....

justice they say can be an uphill battle

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Have been called for jury duty twice and had to decline both times as I worked in law enforcement and could possibly have prior knowledge of the defendant but I would have loved to have done it. Too old now anyway.

[NickorWan]

I was called a couple of times and had to get excused as I couldn’t really take the time of work. The third calling came at a more convenient time and I really enjoyed it. I had a couple of cases, one being a wages heist that went on for about a week. Both found guilty and both we later heard had previous convictions.

My ex was a juror once and the jury got a right ticking off from the judge after they found the defendant innocent. The judge said that they must have been in a different courtroom to him!

[agchristie]

Nickorwan,blimey! Ive never heard of that situation.Is it a judge's place to say such a thing?

[Jackdaw33]

A judge can direct a not guilty verdict but he cannot direct a guilty one.

[agchristie]

Yes,Jack but can he criticise a jury AFTER the event? Doesnt seem proper to me...

[Jackdaw33]

He can criticise them to his heart's content but he cannot reject their verdict.