# Jury Service



## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well jury service tomorrow.....oh what fun. 3rd sodding time but i have never been picked, but knowing my luck it will be 3rd time unlucky. The thing i hate most is the fact that you have to do it :x


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## alcanTTara (Nov 12, 2008)

Some people have all the luck. Id love to do it!

Time off work...

A big old bailey trial... 6 month Jobie.

Id be open to a bit of nobbling too :lol:


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

The one good thing about it would be the time off work. The only problem is, i am supposed to be on my f"""""g days off.


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## BLinky (Jul 3, 2009)

bad if you get paid way more at normal work, you get paid next to nothing for jury service and you're not allowed to watch the news or internet the case.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I've only had to do it once, but as we lived near Heathrow, it was at Isleworth Crown Court so both cases I sat on were about drug smuggling.

Interesting, but a right pain in the arse wrt work.


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## Charlie (Dec 15, 2006)

I think it would be quite interesting if it didn't muck up your day to day existence - especially if it was an interesting case 

Charlie


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well here is what happened on my exciting day doing Jury service.

Sat there for 3.5 hrs listening to a Micheal J fox audiobook on my ipod. The guy comes up to me holding a piece of paper with a name on it, and asks if i knew the person. I says yup it's my nephew. He comes back 5 minutes later and says i can go, but call tomorrow after 5pm, to see if i am required on Wednesday. Turns out there was only one court running and my nephew was going to be on trial for fighting :roll:


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## j8keith (Jun 26, 2009)

I'd like to do "Jury Service", alas the word is out, I've a coil of rope in my garage. :wink: :wink: :wink:


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## Bikerz (Aug 23, 2008)

:lol: 
Chances of it being your nephew?


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

What is the letter of the law regarding having to attend?

I have never been asked, but it might come up & whilst I am sure that it is a cushy number for people who are employed - it would be a right pain in the arse for me as I am self-employed & could ill affored the time away from work.

Just wondering.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

You can delay it once I think, but otherwise you have to do it.


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## Bikerz (Aug 23, 2008)

You pretty much have to attend unless u can come up with a dam good reason not to. If your over 60 you can claim your too old, but thats pretty much it, your called, your in!


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

There are dodges to get out of it, and that's perhaps the big failing with the English legal system - you put your fate in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to be able to avoid jury service!

Of course I'm not allowed to do it, and I always think it was a pity I didn't get to do it before I joined the police. It would be very interesting to see how the jury chamber operates. That said, I've spoken to members of my family who have done it and their experiences are pretty much what I'd expect. Few people put much effort into it or pay much attention to the evidence. In many trials the sort of stuff being discussed is beyond normal comprehension anyway. Just imagine trying to keep up with a complex fraud case that can last weeks or months. So instead it seems most people just make a judgement on appearances and first impressions and spend most of the trial day-dreaming. When giving evidence in court you see it so often.

I've had trials where the evidence was pretty thin but the defendant was convicted probably for no other reason than they looked like a right scrote, and then there have been cases where the evidence was absolutely overwhelming and rock-solid and incomprehensibly the jury have acquitted. It's less like justice and more like a lottery.

I often wonder if we'd be better off with something different.


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Mark Davies said:


> There are dodges to get out of it, and that's perhaps the big failing with the English legal system - you put your fate in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to be able to avoid jury service!
> 
> Of course I'm not allowed to do it, and I always think it was a pity I didn't get to do it before I joined the police. It would be very interesting to see how the jury chamber operates. That said, I've spoken to members of my family who have done it and their experiences are pretty much what I'd expect. Few people put much effort into it or pay much attention to the evidence. In many trials the sort of stuff being discussed is beyond normal comprehension anyway. Just imagine trying to keep up with a complex fraud case that can last weeks or months. So instead it seems most people just make a judgement on appearances and first impressions and spend most of the trial day-dreaming. When giving evidence in court you see it so often.
> 
> ...


I guess i am not smart enough to get out of it then 

Well i called the number like a good boy for the machine to say call back tomorrow


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## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

fut1a said:


> I guess i am not smart enough to get out of it then


Well I'd prefer to think you just have a strong sense of civic duty. :wink:

Some pointers here - and as it says, the majority of people summonsed manage to get out of it.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 39677.html


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## TT Boycie (Sep 27, 2009)

I had the pleasure of doing jury service a few years ago, and it was extremely interesting!
Beforehand, i was very unimpressed at being called up, but theres not much you can do really.
I caught the bus to the court, sat in on the trial for a couple of hours, had a 2hr lunchbreak every day, back in for a couple more hours and the bus home for 4 o'clock  .
I was on for 2 weeks, which included 2 trials. Both the accused were guilty as hell, but both were aquitted as all the witnesses/victims couldn't get their stories to coincide with each other, which led to them both getting away with it.
One thing i did learn, was that even if you commit a crime, tell the truth in the dock, and theres a fair chance you will get away with it!
Also, i was paid full pay inc overtime and bonuses, travelling expenses, meal allowance, and also got a bit more on top.
Beats working for a living :lol:


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## BLinky (Jul 3, 2009)

i've always had the feeling the CPS are over worked.


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## Hilly10 (Feb 4, 2004)

I did jury service in the early nineties sat on a rape case only 2 days found the guy not guilty. I got picked again about 10 years ago I refused as is my right having already done it once. If you get picked for your first time you can refuse if a good enough excuse but they will come back to you then its, you have to do it


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well the latest is. I phoned earlier, and i don't need to phone again but have to report to the court on Monday. This isn't too bad because it's a work day.


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## drjam (Apr 7, 2006)

head_ed said:


> What is the letter of the law regarding having to attend?
> 
> I have never been asked, but it might come up & whilst I am sure that it is a cushy number for people who are employed - it would be a right pain in the arse for me as I am self-employed & could ill affored the time away from work.


Ditto. Pretty scary prospect for me TBH. It's not only the fact that I'd be prevented from earning for the duration of whatever the trial was, but also that, as I understand it, I'd have no idea how long that would be. So would also be unable to tell clients when I would be available to do work again, with all the implications of that in terms of long-term loss of earnings from losing business which doesn't return afterwards.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

You can claim back loss of earnings. But alas, it's our civic duty, along with voting and such.


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## drjam (Apr 7, 2006)

Dash said:


> You can claim back loss of earnings.


On what basis though? I can see them being able to pay out for regular, known income, but if your work doesn't come in like that, I bet they don't have a mechanism for paying out to cover the fact you can't book new work in, loss of future income because clients go elsewhere and so on. 
No problem with civic duty, but if you don't have a standard job and rely instead on ad hoc, irregular chunks of work (often at short notice), then being out of the market for several weeks could have repercussions way beyond just that period.

Haven't done it before, so maybe it's a non-issue - how much notice do they give you? What are the hours (is there time to work at the end of the day)? Do you know before you start how long it'll take?


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

drjam said:


> Dash said:
> 
> 
> > You can claim back loss of earnings.
> ...


You get at least a couple of months notice. Hours are usually between 9:30 and 4:30, with an hour for lunch. It's usually for 2 weeks, and you can be on more than one jury.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

You can weasel out of jury service. If you are able to show that you are likely to permanently lose business from having to take time from work then I get the impression that the court will be sympathetic to your needs.

As for an irregular income, I imagine you face the same problem with apply for a mortgage or anything else. What approach would you take then? I expect you could apply some normalisation to indicate averages for the period.


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well the latest is....sat there from 9:15 to 11:45 when we were told the perp had pleaded guilt, so we were not needed. I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if i ever get on a jury. The case today was death by dangerous driving, so it would have been interesting if he/she had not changed their plea.

In the jury room they kindly provide us with a coffee machine, The only promlem is they want 50p for a cup. Can you believe it......they make you go there and keep you waiting around for hours, and want you to pay that :x


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

Mark Davies said:


> I often wonder if we'd be better off with something different.


I definitely think we would.

The two cases I sat on had no real evidence, but as you say, my fellow jurors had already made their minds up after just hearing the prosecution evidence.

I actually thought it was laziness on the case of the prosecution that they just assumed we'd all go for guilty verdicts.


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Todays jury report. Sat there from 9:30 to 12:15 when we were told they had changed their plea to guilty, so we were not needed. So its back to sitting around tomorrow.

Surely it would save the taxpayer money if people were not allowed to change their plea at the last minute.


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## SAJ77 (Nov 16, 2008)

fut1a said:


> Todays jury report. Sat there from 9:30 to 12:15 when we were told they had changed their plea to guilty, so we were not needed. So its back to sitting around tomorrow.
> 
> Surely it would save the taxpayer money if people were not allowed to change their plea at the last minute.


And they STILL get the 'benefits' of pleading guilty when it comes to sentencing, even though they have dragged the case on for so long! Its a joke! :twisted:


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

fut1a said:


> Well jury service tomorrow.....oh what fun. 3rd sodding time but i have never been picked, but knowing my luck it will be 3rd time unlucky. The thing i hate most is the fact that you have to do it :x


Twice I've been told i have to do Jury service should be doing mine next week, and twice I have got out of it, all i did was tell them I have a holiday booked for the second week this time, all i had to do was e-mail them, the first time I simply differed it for 12 months.


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## Hilly10 (Feb 4, 2004)

jonah said:


> fut1a said:
> 
> 
> > Well jury service tomorrow.....oh what fun. 3rd sodding time but i have never been picked, but knowing my luck it will be 3rd time unlucky. The thing i hate most is the fact that you have to do it :x
> ...


jonah you have been lucky because usually the second time they do insist. I presume its Stafford for you. I did mine at Stafford


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well got picked for a jury yesterday, which i have to admit has been quite interesting, 
Really pissed off with it today though, cos from 10am to 4:20 we spent 2 hours in the court. So instead of the trial being over today we have to go back tomorrow, and to top it all, today and tomorrow are my days off work:x


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Well trial is over. 
The case was a pensioner accused of standing in his front window, bollock naked and haing a ham shank  Before some of you mail me asking where he lives, we found him not guilty. It seems it was only witnessed on seperate occasions by the same family. The family had previous with the guy because he had complained about their kids causing trouble outside his house. It should never have got to court because the witnesses (the same family) were inconsistent with their evidence etc. You have to feel for the guy, labelled with this even though he was inocent, and harrassed by kids, bricks thrown at the house etc. They will probably make it worse for him now. and they get off scot free :x


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## robokn (Feb 21, 2006)

I have done it as was foreman as well, full of old people who didnt have a clue as the guy was videoing people weeing 
and a bit of dogging and was transferring the data and forwarding it on. Forst old lady on day ONE I think he is guilty 
he looks guilty and fair play she was right. I had to stand up and say GUILTY five times which was quite satisfying, the worst part was having to watch the videos and look at the pictures NOT ONE decent lady garden amongst the lot of them

Wouldn't be too keen now I am a contractor no workie no payee


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## Rustytt (Mar 24, 2009)

I did it a few years back. A trio of dimlo druggies had been (allegedly) stiffed over a bag of something or other & had tried to get into the dealers house by and get this; sawing through a upvc front door with a blunt bread knife - it would have taken a week!

Anyway, it was mistrialled for some reason, we think at the time, one of the defendents disclosed his priors in open court when he shouldn't have, but I'm only guessing at that. From memory, I think you can only be called three times in your life & in fairness, the system is quite easy to dodge if you can show that it is prejudicial to your work/earnings. Personally I found it interesting but wouldn't be in any great hurry to repeat the exercise.


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