Hey Guys Just had a thing in the post this morning to say that ive been selected for jury duty in a crown court! anyone else had experiences of this before? as i must admit im quite nervous about the whole thing
I received a letter a while ago stating that in the next year or two I would be considered available for dury duty. My reaction was exactly the same as yours actually. Someone has to do it, but the thought of having to sit through a lengthy trial, be exposed to photographic evidence of a brutal murder or listen to horrific testimony fills me with dread. On the flip side it could be a tedious fraud case or something that gets thrown out in minutes! Luck of the draw.
Well i have a court date for early next year, and according to my wifey (who studies forensics so i would assume she knows what shes talking about) that as its crown court is usually more serious crime such as murder, rape etc. It could be interesting to a point, and if i have see pictures of dead people or graphic images then so be it, its more the inconvenience that bothers me, the fact that im going to have to arrange for someone to take my kids to school and pick them up, getting to and from the court each day as it is a fair distance from me (and not being able to drive doesnt help) plus loss of earnings, and at the very worst if it drags on for more than a couple of weeks my birthday plans are screwed! My missus seems more excited about it than me, but its something that interests her, but to me i'd rather not have to go through with it, the mind tends to wander to worst case scenario
Trial by jury laws vary from country to country, but you should research your rights a bit, if you're an employee. I'm guessing you're in the UK, so here's a link for starters: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10037655
I'm actually recently self employed, so that's not really a problem, have just posted the reply form back to them and should be getting an information pack soon from them, as long as i can 'prove' what my loss of earnings are for the period of jury duty is then i can claim it back off them, the only downside is you have to wait until the trial has ended before making a claim, so the longer it takes the more i loose business and money
I almost had to do Crown Court jury duty not long after I turned 18! My worry was that the case could go on for a long time due to the nature of the cases involved. As you point out it is normally serious cases that go to Crown Court. Luckily I was able to get out of it as I got my doctor to write a letter based on medical circumstances. The lucky part was that my doctor was willing to play up the immediate seriousness of my situation. My father almost had to do jury duty too and this is where it is similar to your situation, he's self employed and was able to get off based on the fact that regardless of being repaid the lost income the impact on his business would be serious enough to possibly risk his (and the whole family's) financial future.
This is my idea of a nightmare. Look how long it took! Knowing my luck this is what I would end up on - just LOOK at the length of jury duty lol http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1728811.ece
Unfortunately there's not much i can do to get out of it, apart from blatantly lie or fake my own death (neither of which are an option) i can apply for it to be 'deferred' but i still have to do it at some point in the next 12 months
If you want out all you have to do is say you believe in jury nullification. The courts hate that right and tend to get rid of anyone aware of it as fast as possible.
That's what I was going to say. Go in there, hope the defendant is not white, and say "God I hate _______" <--- using the worst ethnic slur you can find. It's spineless, but you'll get to go home. I would hate to be on jury duty. For the most part, I think people get the short end of the stick, and would have a hard time deciding someone was guilty w/o having seen it. I am the polar opposite of Nancy "Fry Now As Questions Later" Grace.
I was in college for two of the times they sent me a summons, and the third got tossed out when I told them I flat out don't even live in the county anymore. I never had to go to the actual courthouse, lie about being a racist, or any of that. Call them and say you're out of the country, they don't care. They'll push it back, and then you make up another lie when that times comes a year or so later.
I was under the belief that reasonable out of pocket expenses will be covered by the court including lost earnings and travel expenses.
nowhere near what you would get for actually going to your job, which you could lose. A nice benefit would be to win the lottery of jury duty and get selected to a celebrity or infamous case, then write a book about it.
