Jury Service

[kenthammer]

I know he pled guilty eventually but imagine being on the duty for the Ian Watkins from Lostprophets trial.

Had a similar case on my 2nd week,babies and animals
Not something I wanna do again

[btajim - mcfc]

When Hereford United went pop, they’d been owned by a convicted thief, serial con artist, asset stripper and football hooligan. One was meant to attend court with proof of £1,000,000 to pay the creditors but was “stuck in traffic” with the evidence. The sole barrister did his best to defend them but the half dozen or so against (HMRC leading) saw them wound up in five minutes. We were outside waiting for longer than we were in. Surreal experience.

I enjoy my job as a clerk but wouldn’t touch Crown with a barge pole. Imagine the pond life you’d deal with.

[The Collector]

Did mine years ago. I was sent to Knightsbridge Crown Court (behind Harrod’s) despite living in Silvertown. Turned up for the first day to be sworn in and found that a bloke from my local pub was also a juror as was the mother of a girl I went to school with and a couple of people from Canning Town!

I spent the best part of two weeks in the juror’s room reading a long book. Eventually put on a mugging case which lasted a couple of days and an attempted theft which was one day. Even if we were not needed we had to sit in this room with all the other jurors. Nobody got released to go home or go back to work for a day. There were card schools and people brought in board games to try to ease the boredom.

Lovely old building with a juror’s cafe in the basement and a wide staircase sweeping up to the first floor. Walked past it a couple of years ago and it had been converted into posh flats.

[Samba]

Sounds like an utterly tedious pain in the arse, TBH.

I think it usually is, Dan.
Did mine at the Old Bailey which I guess was worth it, just to see inside.
Two defendants accused of robbing banks & building societies. Lasted 2 weeks.
After the prosecution, I was like - GUILTY!
After the defence, I was like - NOT GUILTY!
How should I know, I wasn't there at any of them?
After it was all over, decided there & then that 'winning' is possibly largely down to who has the better barristers that can tell the best 'story' & not necessarily about, whether they are actually guilty or not.
All in all, quite disappointing, really..

[westham,eggyandchips]

2007 I done it.

Nothing in the first week. Got sent home by 10am.

Then the second week got a assault case. Bloke was a complete wrong'un. Assaulted a black guy in Tilbury in an unprovoked attack. Then, when the Ambo arrived to help the black guy, this moron attacked one of the paramedics too.

Some of fellow jury members were right jobsworths though.

[btajim - mcfc]

Everyone has the right to a fair trial. Cases to prosecute and defend are very thorough.

I’ve just remembered when I had to get a taxi home at lunch because I’d had a delivery. The driver picked me up outside the court in my work clothes and didn’t say a word. I’m assuming he thought I’d been on trial!

[woodgreenspur]

Did it about 5 years back.
Was at Wood Green crown court,so could walk there.
Really enjoyed it,would happily do it again.

[sendô]

Nope. I was lucky enough to get myself cautioned by the police for a minor drugs offence as a teenager. Best tenner I ever spent...

[Big George]

Wife got called on a sexual assault-rape case earleir this year that all hung on consent, found it all quite distressing.

There used to be called something called the "Snaresbrook effect" realtring to convictions. This meant the CPS were reluctant to send certain cases there because the localpop used to say "handling stolen goods? that's a crime? Give over!".

[Plashet Grove Pete]

Served mine at Chelmsford about 15 years ago. As others have said there's lots of sitting around doing very little. Had two cases over a two week period, the first a fairly farcical fraud case which got kicked out on the second day, the other a GBH case which got downgraded to affray mid way through. That case lasted three days, but the jury spent at least half the time outside the courtroom whilst legal arguments went on.

Overall glad I did it, but seemed like a process that was ripe for improvement and streamlining - whatever you do take plenty of reading material along!

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

For those who have done jury service, do you feel the system is sufficiently robust considering people can get jailed for years? Is a randomly selected from all walks of life jury capable of understanding all the evidence and legal arguments/instructions?

[Shy Ted]

When ever I hear Jury Service I think of Hancock.



Will never be asked, got a little bit of form.

[Tenbury]

For those who have done jury service, do you feel the system is sufficiently robust considering people can get jailed for years? Is a randomly selected from all walks of life jury capable of understanding all the evidence and legal arguments/instructions?

Not even slightly.
I've hummed and ha'ad about posting this, but I spose it's OK :

Just before the pandemic, I spent 2 weeks on a jury. WMP made a total bollox of the case, and while the guy may well have been guilty, as the judge pointed out, most of the evidence was circumstanstial and the OB who gave evidence were, frankly, infantile. Sadly for the defendant, much talk was made of ' county lines', his skin tone was (for more than a few jurors) quite clearly problematic, and, worst of all, many (after a day and a half's deliberation) expressed a desperate need to return to their normal lives.
Guilty by majority verdict. An immensely depressing experience.

[Plashet Grove Pete]

For those who have done jury service, do you feel the system is sufficiently robust considering people can get jailed for years? Is a randomly selected from all walks of life jury capable of understanding all the evidence and legal arguments/instructions?

I certainly felt that all the jurors took their responsibilities very seriously, and paid full attention. One young guy made it plain that he was very anti police, but in the event I don't think this made any difference - one person was found guilty of affray (the evidence against him was overwhelming, although two others were acquitted) and from memory the jury was unanimous.

I think a lot of effort was made to keep things simple and to ensure people understood - the judge certainly seemed sympathetic to the jurors, and there was every opportunity to flag concerns or request something be explained again But what I would say is it ain't like on TV where in courtroom dramas everything is slick and everyone speaks eloquently - there were loads of fumbles, misplaced notes, delays etc.

[Roby]

I know he pled guilty eventually but imagine being on the duty for the Ian Watkins from Lostprophets trial.

That bloke transpired to be an absolute wrong un.

It came out later that he’d also uploaded photos of himself to dodgy websites where he had a BASEBALL BAT shoved up his arse.

I personally wouldn’t fancy jury service - a colleague from work was on the case week before last where the ex squaddie broke into his neighbours house and stabbed them to death over a parking space on an estate.

Madness.

My brother did one a few years back where some young kid was looking after a shooter for a gang and was taking pics and waving it about and ended up shooting his girlfriend in the chest. Poor girl bled out and died. Again, madness.

[btajim - mcfc]

I did bits of work with South Wales bands when Lostprophets broke through. Above anything, nobody seemed to like Watkins. I think sometimes you can just tell although there weren’t even suspicions from his band mates in to how sick he really was.

[hammerheadjim]

I appreciate all the feedback and experiences. Will be at Snaresbrook at the end of August into September. (Does mean it’ll be rola cola for the spurs game sadly)

I have always fancied doing it and have a real interest into how the justice system works, but as others have said, I hope it’s nothing that may give too harrowing tales...

[Chicken Run Supreme]

I was called up at the age of 20 when still a student and applied to be excused and was granted exemption.
Not had a sniff since then until a couple of months ago. I was required to phone Clerk of Court daily at 5 to see if needed as jury was still remotely based in an Odeon cinema. After a week of calling in and not being required, on the Friday I was told “thank you for making yourself available but you are relieved of your duties”. I was very disappointed

[prophet:marginal]

For those who have done jury service, do you feel the system is sufficiently robust considering people can get jailed for years? Is a randomly selected from all walks of life jury capable of understanding all the evidence and legal arguments/instructions?

The unemployed and retired are, perhaps inevitably, over-represented in juries, because certain types of work - especially the running of one's own business - are the main reason for people to be excused service on long/complicated trials.

Sometimes, especially in big urban centres, people are selected to be on juries when their English isn't perfect. That will of course lead to concerns that they have understood the nuance of language, but a line has to be drawn somewhere.

One very important thing to remember, though, is that a decent advocate is only really ever going to persuade a jury if he or she is making an address (or asking a question in examining a witness) if he or she is doing it in a manner that a jury member can readily understand. In the main, as much as exceptions do arise, criminal activity is subject to the reality of whether something was unreasonable, or dishonest, or - from another perspective - so clear as to be proof of the crime.

The jury system needs tightening up, but it has to be representative of the community in which the alleged offence/criminal activity arose. It has evolved recently, to ensure as best as it can the correct result - for instance, nowadays, the jury gets written directions on the law, so that it is not required to remember large chunks of information from the judge.

[kenthammer]

When I done mine the Jurors had there own room with TV,restaurant and toilets and were taken down back stairways to the courtroom so you didn't mix with anybody,at lunchtime you could walk outside and be standing next to the defendant and his family/friends having a fag or in the shop queue.
I think if I was in a gang related case I'd have felt quite uncomfortable walking out at the end of the day