Page 1 of Jury Duty

I have just had a letter from the court informing me that I am to be called up for Jury Duty. Has anyone here been called up and what was the experience like?

Brubby

I was called up for jury duty last year…had to sit through loads of video tapes of what your experience was going to be like in the court and what you had to do when I got there, reciting the oath etc. ..BUT then the man who was in charge said I didn't have to do because I was a student. I got paid for the day so wasn't too bad. Bit gutted in the end tho was looking forward to it the experience :¦ .

A friend of mine just found out that his ex wife and fiancé have been called up for jury service at the same time and at the same court.

Wouldn`t want to be there for that one!

Did it for an armed-robbery up here,years ago.

It was a bit of a comical story actually;

Three young lads out in a car.
The car runs out of petrol.
One goes off to get petrol.
Meanwhile,the other two go into the boot,take out an (unloaded) shotgun and rob the post office they`ve just passed !

You can more or less guess what happened next.
Yup,by the time they ran back to their car,the third bloke hadn`t come back with the petrol yet ! :/ :D

The coppers turned up,arrested the two that had robbed the post office,then sat and waited for third bloke,who had no idea of what had happened !

We were told,by the judge,to ignore the fact the gun was unloaded.
It`s still armed robbery,as the poor woman it was pointed at had no clue it was empty.

Didn`t take us long to find the two guilty and the third not guilty.
The two got 7 years each and the third was let off.

Quite shocking seein the families` reactions to the sentencing though.
All sorts of threats being shouted at us in the jury !

Yeah,like it was our fault their kids are clueless idiots... :D

I suppose it depends on what case your hearing. I had to do it in Birmingham in a GBH case with a really chavvy guy who had an equally chavvy family who kept shouting things. It was all over in a few days and since none of the parties particularly covered themselves in glory, it was actually quite entertaining.

And a girl at work got a burgalry case where the guy robbed his own parents for drugs, which I would have thought would be reasonable.

The whole process is ok and, in our case, deliberations went fairly quickly, so that was fine.

But I suppose you could be unlucky and get like a business fraud or tax evasion case or something like that. I bet some are a real ball ache.

This item was edited on Thursday, 20th April 2006, 11:57

How about 6 weeks at the Old Bailey on a multiple (>20 hits) armed robbery gang case? We were given notes and maps, books of photos and had to hear from loads of witnesses, including a former gang member turned "supergrass". Given the mountain of evidence, it took us 2 days of deliberations (very tough) to come to an agreed verdict.

It was worth it, to see British Justice in action, and feel that you were the most important part of it. As the judge told us "You will never have a more responsible role in society than you have as a jury member". He was right.

Let`s hope it`s not a case with a racial influence eh ? Wouldn`t want to prosecute someone for speaking the wrong language ?!? ;)

Quote:
It should be law that only English is spoken in the company of White`s. How many of us have left an Asian shop and hearing them talk on their own language and then start to laugh? Who knows what they have said.

I don`t think it will be a major case as it will be in the Sheriff Court (equivalent to the English Crown Court) and not the High Court.

And no matter what race or religion the defendant/defendants are. I will do my best to weigh the evidence and give a fair and honest decision. I do admit I am a wee bit apprehensive about it.

Brubby

You might not be needed.
If they plead guilty,you`ll be sent home.

I have jury service at next month and I`m not too sure I really want to do it. I have to use public transportation each day to get to court and I can envision many hours sat round doing nowt! For those that have done it, is it really a great experience or is it quite nerve racking?