Jury Duty

ddraver

Given the average age of the forum I'm assuming most of you will have had the pleasure.

I got the call for the end of June. Anything I should be looking forward to..?

pblakeney

Taking time off work, attending court, hanging around for hours while jury selection takes place, being told you can leave. Massive waste of time.
That was my experience anyway. Shame as it was a juicy murder case.

ugo.santalucia

Never had the pleasure, I suppose only UK citizen are entitled… one of the joys of being a foreigner

ddraver

The timing is the most gigantic pain in the ass I must say... 😡

sungod

three times, and a coroner's court too

unless you want to spend days/weeks of potentially good summer weather confined in stuffy waiting/court/jury rooms, with people you increasingly dislike, restraining the growing urge to kill, and that's just the jurors...

respond explaining that because [professional reasons/whatever/blah blah blah] please can they defer your jury duty until october/whenever

surrey_commuter

Girl at work was between jobs when she ended up on a fraud trial which meant she was out of work for 9 months

pangolin

Spent 2 weeks listening to CPS try to bring a case against some apparently well known football hooligans for trying to arrange to meet up and fight.

Judge ultimately chucked it out due to lack of evidence and apologised for wasting all our time.

DeVlaeminck

Never had the call - always quite fancied the idea but I suppose the reality is as you all say.

kingstongraham

ddraver said:

Given the average age of the forum I'm assuming most of you will have had the pleasure.

I got the call for the end of June. Anything I should be looking forward to..?

Seeing the spread of intelligence and life experience within 12 randomly selected people.

I have only been called once, was thirty years ago, one of the cases was particularly unpleasant.

monkimark

I never have and being self employed i hope I never do.
Not wanting to brag but my day rate is quite a bit over £65 and I don't relish the idea of paying out the equivalent of a decent holiday for a week of jury service

ddraver

Does anyone have any idea of how often it runs over 2 weeks? I need to get my bloomin motorbike licence sorted around that time too!!🤯😡

Stevo_666

pblakeney said:

Taking time off work, attending court, hanging around for hours while jury selection takes place, being told you can leave. Massive waste of time.
That was my experience anyway. Shame as it was a juicy murder case.

Largely this. Spent an hour hanging around Croydon magistrates Court for a week or so. Only heard one case which was an alleged sexual assault on a minor. And while hanging around waiting they had no wifi...

pangolin

ddraver said:

Does anyone have any idea of how often it runs over 2 weeks? I need to get my bloomin motorbike licence sorted around that time too!!🤯😡

In mine there was a trial likely to run long and they warned us and we were allowed to ask the judge to be excused. No idea if that's standard.

It did make me wonder about who would be up for being on longer trials and why they don't have anything better to do.

Pross

ddraver said:

The timing is the most gigantic pain in the censored I must say... 😡

You can get out of it if you find a legitimate reason.

I've never been called and neither has my wife. My mother got called up and had days of sitting around before getting put on some really low end case.

Pross

pangolin said:

ddraver said:

Does anyone have any idea of how often it runs over 2 weeks? I need to get my bloomin motorbike licence sorted around that time too!!🤯😡

In mine there was a trial likely to run long and they warned us and we were allowed to ask the judge to be excused. No idea if that's standard.

It did make me wonder about who would be up for being on longer trials and why they don't have anything better to do.

Boomers innit, beats watching Murder She Wrote and all those ads for funeral insurance. Basically the sort of people you wouldn't want on a jury if you found yourself accused of something

monkimark

ugo.santalucia

oxoman said:

As monkimark says, plus already been a naughty boy and convicted or likely to be. Final get out is if sectioned due to mental health issues.

Wouldn’t hospital appointments get you out of it?

sungod

ddraver said:

Does anyone have any idea of how often it runs over 2 weeks? I need to get my bloomin motorbike licence sorted around that time too!!🤯😡

just ask them to defer it a few months, i've done that every time, it's a perfectly normal thing to do - deferment is distinct from being excused, but if there's good reason that can be done too

from memory, the officers always ask if a long trial would be a problem for you when you first attend, most cases are short

my experience is there were always more jurors than needed, hence the hours/days in the waiting room, after you've done 2-3 cases they may say don't come back, that could happen in the first week, longest one i was on lasted two days (guilty as hell)

afaik claiming you're biased would have to wait until you're in court for the jury vetting prior to being sworn in, saying it in front of the judge at that point wouldn't be wise

webboo

Just say you are health professional and they can’t spare you at work. You don’t get asked again.

ddraver

I can't really defer it because I'm starting something in September. (It's too late now anyway). I tried to get out of it by saying I work in a cafe directly outside the court (which is...not untrue) but that didn't cut it.

The combination of lack of earnings, plus the loss of 2 weeks study is a proper barsteward! I was hoping they might let me sit on a laptop whilst waiting around but it doesn't sound much like that's the case...

sungod

ddraver said:

I can't really defer it because I'm starting something in September. (It's too late now anyway). I tried to get out of it by saying I work in a cafe directly outside the court (which is...not untrue) but that didn't cut it.

The combination of lack of earnings, plus the loss of 2 weeks study is a proper barsteward! I was hoping they might let me sit on a laptop whilst waiting around but it doesn't sound much like that's the case...

even if they decline excused service, you can still ask for a deferral up to 12 months...

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service

hints and tips here...
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228867/9780108508400.pdf

laptop in the waiting room was ok when i last did it, might be wifi at some, otherwise phone hotspot would give you connectivity, you'll need to leave it in a locker when in court/jury room

Stevo_666

Pross said:

pangolin said:

ddraver said:

Does anyone have any idea of how often it runs over 2 weeks? I need to get my bloomin motorbike licence sorted around that time too!!🤯😡

In mine there was a trial likely to run long and they warned us and we were allowed to ask the judge to be excused. No idea if that's standard.

It did make me wonder about who would be up for being on longer trials and why they don't have anything better to do.

Boomers innit, beats watching Murder She Wrote and all those ads for funeral insurance. Basically the sort of people you wouldn't want on a jury if you found yourself accused of something

What about the sort of people who can spend half the day posting posting stuff on a bike forum?

scottishgeek

Got called during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and got excused due to work.

Got called again in January this year only to get a letter cancelling it two weeks later.

Now been called again for early June as has one of my team. Thankfully at different courts.

homers_double

I got called up and ended up on a murder trial, it was scheduled for two weeks but lasted about 7 days, the judge released us after the 7. Legally we coul dhave been forced to stay for the 10 days but the judge presiding had authority to dismiss us.

I quite enjoyed it, there is an amount of sitting around but it is interesting.

You get a lunch allowance to use in the court canteen or about £6 if you choose to eat out.

Day 1 most people go in a suit, by day three its more relaxed, smart casual would be my advice (as it can get stuffy).

Day 1, take a book/kindle/laptop as selection can be quite a lengthy process.

I ended up as foreman so pronounced the chap in dock GUILTY!

Would I do it again? Probably.

rakkor

I was called up to do jury duty at the Old Bailey a few years back. A couple of boring mornings waiting for selection followed by three weeks of a murder trial. Be careful if you want to be excused as some judges are accommodating and some see it as your duty. I swerved a 4 week trial as I had a holiday booked, but on the next selection the judge insisted a woman took part, so when I was selected for mine I took it just in case the next was a fraud trial. There was a jury from a fraud trial we used to see in the cafe and they were 4 months into a six month trial.

orraloon

Never been called on (🤞). I don't understand how 'normal' people can be expected to give up weeks, or months in that example above, of their lives to just sit there like dummies, say nothing, do nothing but listen to words, that they in all probability don't understand if it's a fraud trial or suchlike.

I've been self employed a chunk of my life. Why should I be expected to take a financial hit as well?

pangolin

Yeah the financial hit for someone who is self employed, or who needs childcare, is pretty severe.