Jury Service

@MH2010 That may not be the case. There are only certain things that disqualify you.

tim2000s said:

@MH2010 That may not be the case. There are only certain things that disqualify you.

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Everytime I get a letter, I call them to check & they always say I cant do it.

Not that I'm complaining, dont think I could sit on an important case and keep my mouth shut. Lol.

I'm encouraged by how many people here want to do jury service: the service needs more thoughtful and intelligent people. I'd love to do it, but I'm in one of the exempt categories - which are essentially the criminal, the insane and the legal profession

Kate

I must fall into the insane part, as I'm neither of the other two.
I have been to court as a professional witness several times and I always come away thinking it is pure theatre.
The wigs and gowns, the flowery language if they weren't in a court, they would be on stage.
I will give kudos to the legal profession, my office has a brilliant barrister and solicitor on hand, they really get into the nitty gritty, drill down to cover all bases.

noblehead said:

I don't know how the selection process works, in my last place of work one of my colleagues had done jury service 3 times yet I've never been called up, my father did jury service but he wasn't allowed to talk about the case until the trial was over.

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The selection process is completely random, which is why some people have been called several times and others not at all. I think people are chosen from the Electoral Roll.

I did jury service about ten years ago. It was a bit of a shock to be wheeled into the court, get sworn in and then discover that we were hearing a murder trial The guy didn't deny the killing (it was his one-time girlfriend) but his counsel was trying to persuade us that it was manslaughter, not murder.

Quite a bit of the evidence - and of the judge's summing-up - revolved around defining the difference between the two offences but the photos of the victim were pretty gruesome, as was the murder weapon, and I wouldn't want to do it again any time soon. We found him guilty of murder: one of the other jurors was an ex-colleague of mine and she suggested to everyone that, as I worked in HR, I was used to giving people bad news (which was true, sadly) so I ought to be the Foreman. It's quite heavy, telling someone to their face that you have found them guilty of murder......

I seem to recall that we were told we shouldn't discuss the case with anyone else (except other jurors, obviously) whilst it was being heard, and that we shouldn't discuss the detailed deliberations that we went through as a jury at any time, then or thereafter.

Whilst I'm in no hurry to repeat the experience, if called I would do it again: it's our duty as citizens and, in the great scheme of things, it's usually just a few days out of your life.

I would have loved to have done it over 70 now so no chance. My eldest daughter was called she attended the court for five days but never sat on the jury so even if you are called there is no guarantee you will sit on a trial. I thought it had to be pretty extreme circumstances for anyone to get out of doing it if they are called

My youngest daughter and my god-daughter, both in their early 20's were both called at the same time, but in different counties. Both had harrowing cases. My daughter - registered disabled and a permanent wheelchair user wasn't exempt but the court staff went to great efforts to ensure everything was accessible for her during the 2 rape cases she had over three weeks. She knew she couldn't discuss the cases until after the trials were over but really needed some support when she got home each day. My god-daughter, a primary school teacher had a child sex abuse case which she too found difficult

I did it about 40 years ago. The case was a quite boring fraud case and lasted five weeks. I did enjoy the experience, though sometimes it was difficult to stay awake in a warm stuffy courtroom with the barristers droning on over page after page of figures. At the end the Judge told us that if we were summonsed again we could ask to be excused because we had been on a long trial.
I've never been summonsed since, though people I know have been called two, three and four times. I wouldn't mind doing it again, but I only have five years to go before I'm 70 and exempt.
To the OP, if someone with diabetes was called and sat on a jury, they should tell the usher who is in charge of the jury, and he/she will tell the judge. If you feel unwell, again tell the jury usher and the judge will have a temporary adjournment.

Did Jury service in November. The court ushers speak to you about any health reasons you wish to disclose. They were very good to me as I have to have a drink with me at all times due to medication. We also had a young pregnant mum (about 7 months) on our jury so they gave regular breaks so she could go to the loo etc.

I only did the one case, which was quite distubing. I'm not sure if I would do it again or ask to be set aside due to health reasons (I have other health problems, not just diabetes).

It is a lot of waiting around and I only finished late one day ie around 4pm. Rest of the time I was either out at lunchtime or by 2.30pm