Jury service

[SUFC-Shrimper]

Right people, whos done it, whats it like, what do i wear?...ive heard its veryy boring?!?!?!

I start my first day of Jury service a week today, only good thing is 2 weeks off work and company still paying my wages :)

What can i expect?

 

[Mad Cyril]

Homer Simpson escaped Jury duty claiming he was prejudiced against all races.

Possibly worth a punt if you don't fancy it.

 

[EastStandBlue]

If you get something crap then just speak to the press. Contempt of Court, you're out.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Wear? Smart casual I seem to remember.

Yes it can be very boring - a lot of the trials I was up for the defendants pleaded guilty at the last minute leaving you in a room with 16 other people making small talk. However I did a trial which involved a child (not sexually) which left me in a very odd mood after I'd given the guilty sentence (I was foreman).

Warning though: A mate of mind was involved in a hardcore child abuse case that left him needing councilling and another was involved in a heavy mortgage fraud case that went on for weeks.

 

[SUFC-Shrimper]

i dont mind being part of the jury, i just dont want it to be some boring case, id rather be sent home :)....obviously you cant choose so we'll see. hopefully its rather intresting

im going to take couple of newspapers and magazines as waiting around is going to be veryy boring. hopefully im either at home or on a decent trail.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Very boring while you're in the holding pen, take plenty of stuff to do to stimulate the mind just a little bit. Did mine about 12 years ago, funny why does that ring a bell?

 

[Pubey]

Worth finding out if they have wifi in the holding room. Mrs pubey did it and spent 7 days watching films on her laptop. Her case was quite upsetting, so worth being prepared for that. Also be prepared for some of the other jurors bein complete muppets

 

[The Big Shrimp]

I did the coroners court for my jury service & as a result I've lost any faith in the legal system. We argued about a nutter who had been served a restraining order to stay away from a girl who didn't like him. He had a long history of mental problems & he topped himself over it!

His mother hired a crap lawyer to prove the health authority were at fault & to try to get compo from them. Some of the jury didn't fancy coming back for another day & changed their minds so that we could have a majority decision. Complete joke!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I did the coroners court for my jury service & as a result I've lost any faith in the legal system. We argued about a nutter who had been served a restraining order to stay away from a girl who didn't like him. He had a long history of mental problems & he topped himself over it!

His mother hired a crap lawyer to prove the health authority were at fault & to try to get compo from them. Some of the jury didn't fancy coming back for another day & changed their minds so that we could have a majority decision. Complete joke!

Is it the system that is at fault, or the people in the system?

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

Did mine about 12 years ago, funny why does that ring a bell?

Were you on the Rettendon Murders trial jury then?
Either that or Her Majesty vs Quasimodo??? :p

 

[ShrimperChris]

This thread has just reminded me that I have been called for jury service in March!

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Is it the system that is at fault, or the people in the system?

The system. Bigots & nutters can wreck an innocent persons life. Ask Derek Bentley!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

The system. Bigots & nutters can wreck an innocent persons life. Ask Derek Bentley!

First up, I'm not Derek Acorah, so I won't be asking Derek Bentley.

Second, is that not the people in the system, the "12 men good and true" rather than the system itself?

 

[canveyshrimper]

The system. Bigots & nutters can wreck an innocent persons life. Ask Derek Bentley!

Derek Bentley isn't a great example to use, while he should not have been executed he was guilty of aiding and abetting a robbery at which a policeman was murdered. The death sentence on Bentley was a miscarriage, but you can't blame a jury for finding him guilty. And it would have been the judge that handed down the death sentence. The irony now being that the man who pulled the trigger (Christopher Craig) is today a free man.

 

[The Big Shrimp]

but it is the system that allows the life of a potentially innocent person to be decided by people with no legal grounding or brains!

If you were Derek Acorah, you would be able to speak to Derek Bentley, even if he would have acquired a Scouse accent in the afterlife!!!

 

[canveyshrimper]

Of course trial by jury has its faults, but what is the alternative?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Juries acquit at a far higher rate than judges/magistrates.

 

[The Big Shrimp]

Derek Bentley isn't a great example to use, while he should not have been executed he was guilty of aiding and abetting a robbery at which a policeman was murdered. The death sentence on Bentley was a miscarriage, but you can't blame a jury for finding him guilty. And it would have been the judge that handed down the death sentence. The irony now being that the man who pulled the trigger (Christopher Craig) is today a free man.

Maybe not, but he was under arrest at the time, so can't have aided him in murder. Like you say, not a great example, but needless to say, he's not the only person to have been wrongly convicted!

 

[duncan bulgaria]

Very boring while you're in the holding pen, take plenty of stuff to do to stimulate the mind just a little bit. Did mine about 12 years ago, funny why does that ring a bell?

Was it your 50 th Birthday ??;)

 

[MK Shrimper]

The system. Bigots & nutters can wreck an innocent persons life. Ask Derek Bentley!

Have to agree at some of the actions of the jurors I was with. One scatty old woman at times nodded off and had to be prodded awake by the bloke next to her, another spoke openly about discussing the case with his brother in front of ushers (that's a massive no-no).