As people have said, nothing like you see on TV. Unless its a big case, you only get junior barristers / solicitors who dont really know what is going on.
On one trial, the policeman who was sent along to give evidence on behalf of the police was not involved in the arrest as he was on holiday. He had to keep referring to a colleagues note book and it was impossible to know what went on. The fact though that the accused was swaying from side to side shaking from Cold Turkey made the Jurys mind up virtually before a word was said! Its was only once they read out previous convictions after being found guilty we were glad we got it right.
Also, in the summing up of our big case the judge literally reiterated everything from the prosecution and the witnesses in regards the case reading from his notes and quoting what people had said.
Yeah, we had that the first time I was called up. The Judge literally took longer to sum up than the case took to hear.
One small but very important note O' randy. Once you start don't post any details whatsoever of the case you are on or you could find yourself in the dock.
prob best keep quiet till it's over and a verdict has been reached. They estimate length of cases but sometimes they get thrown out and sometimes they take longer/shorter. so it's not really relevant in some cases.
Don't worry fella. You can say what you like about your case to you friends and family by word of mouth. As long as you don't go into specifics. ie names, dates, times etc
You can say to your wife, brother etc...I'm on a mugging case and it will probably last 3-4 days. You can say a young bloke was attacked by a gang in a park and they nicked his wallet. Don't panic, this is not 1984!
In my opinion, given some of the numpties who have been on the juries I have served on and finding out tonight that you need only have lived in the UK for five years and not even be a UK citizen to serve, that it is time to have professional juries ie people with common sense, people who can follow the evidence and then dissect it and make a judgement on it properly rather than some berk from Abbeywood (no offence) who is only concerned about the case finishing so he can go home as he's bored and Play Your Cards Right is on at 5pm and anyway if a young lad agreed to meet a stranger in a park then he deserved to be raped. Yeah right.
some berk from Abbeywood (no offence) who is only concerned about the case finishing so he can go home as he's bored and Play Your Cards Right is on at 5pm
Play Your Cards Right? Was he going home to the 1980's?
some berk from Abbeywood (no offence) who is only concerned about the case finishing so he can go home as he's bored and Play Your Cards Right is on at 5pm
Play Your Cards Right? Was he going home to the 1980's?
I was a juror on the Jonathan King trial and it was chuffing horrendous, lots of grown men sitting there crying recalling how he had 'interferred' with them...nothing like Ally McBeal at all.
Did Jury service at Newington Causeway last summer (2010) during the World Cup so mostly just sat around watching Football. Eventually got put on a case of some girl who assaulted some bouncers and a Policeman.
Really enjoyed the experience, but totally lost my faith in the justice system. The majority of the jury were thick as two planks and didn't have the mental capacity to work anything out about the case. Should've been found guilty (up on 6 seperate charges) but she got off and there's no way she should have walked. And, as has been mentioned previously, certain members of the jury just wanted to get out as soon as possible so just went with whatever would make that happen.
Enjoyable experience but eye opening for me, and not in a good way
Just finished after going into my 6th week. Had a bit of a knob head on our jury who couldn't wait to finish. She was willing to go with what ever verdict we went with just to get back to normal life. We tried explaining to her, how she would feel If her son/daughter was a defendant and had someone like her in the jury. We had rows and the women nearly had fights. Other than that got to say I enjoyed it
6 month case starting there soon. 5 weeks was enough for me
it's every Englishman's duty to do jury sevice if called upon. The jury system is one of the few remaining 'democratic systems' left . Yes, the cases can be tiresome, yes you see the worst mannered and most stupid people in the dock, yes some fellow jurors can be as annoying and seemingly as stupid as some of the defendants .. but it has got to be done
If I ever get called again I'll make it clear straight off; their guilty, on the grounds they got this far
FFS, I hope your tongue is firmly in your cheek with that one. Otherwise, how much tax payer's money do you really want to waste sending down a potentially innocent person?
Praps a little tongue in check. I know a QC who works for the CPS and was told, prosecutions by the CPS is a results game. There is not the resources to follow every case so cases get cherry picked. Basically something we all know happens but dont like hear it. So if the defendants have got that far there is a good chance there is a case to answer.
Was on jury service with Darrel russels aunt so had a good old natter about the addicks.
Prosecution done an awful job on our case. Didnt dig into facts properly. Lack of witnesses and didn't prove anything. So we were speculating over stuff while deliberating which shouldnt be the case.
Was on jury service with Darrel russels aunt so had a good old natter about the addicks. Prosecution done an awful job on our case. Didnt dig into facts properly. Lack of witnesses and didn't prove anything. So we were speculating over stuff while deliberating which shouldnt be the case.
thar's what the jury is for .. to asses and 'judge' the case as presented .. if the prosecution muck it up and don't prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt then the jury can decide .. not guilty
And that's exactly what they done lincs so not guilty was the verdict.
Was a good feeling seeing the defendants faces when they heard the news. All this has gone on for about 5 years and you could see in there faces the amount of relief to get this off there chest
Comments
As people have said, nothing like you see on TV. Unless its a big case, you only get junior barristers / solicitors who dont really know what is going on.
On one trial, the policeman who was sent along to give evidence on behalf of the police was not involved in the arrest as he was on holiday. He had to keep referring to a colleagues note book and it was impossible to know what went on. The fact though that the accused was swaying from side to side shaking from Cold Turkey made the Jurys mind up virtually before a word was said! Its was only once they read out previous convictions after being found guilty we were glad we got it right.
After my two experiences I must say that the main conclusion I drew overall was that our judicial system is heavily weighted towards the defendant.
It's more difficult to convict than aquit.
Am I aloud to say how long my case is or should everything be kept quiet.
Don't worry fella. You can say what you like about your case to you friends and family by word of mouth. As long as you don't go into specifics. ie names, dates, times etc
You can say to your wife, brother etc...I'm on a mugging case and it will probably last 3-4 days. You can say a young bloke was attacked by a gang in a park and they nicked his wallet. Don't panic, this is not 1984!
I was expecting to go in for 2 weeks at the most and have a few different cases over the 2 weeks. Except I have 1 case for longer than 2 weeks
Should be interesting
You not got Sky Rizzo?
Everything is on somewhere.....
Did Jury service at Newington Causeway last summer (2010) during the World Cup so mostly just sat around watching Football. Eventually got put on a case of some girl who assaulted some bouncers and a Policeman.
Really enjoyed the experience, but totally lost my faith in the justice system. The majority of the jury were thick as two planks and didn't have the mental capacity to work anything out about the case. Should've been found guilty (up on 6 seperate charges) but she got off and there's no way she should have walked. And, as has been mentioned previously, certain members of the jury just wanted to get out as soon as possible so just went with whatever would make that happen.
Enjoyable experience but eye opening for me, and not in a good way
Then a witness walked in and it was a lot more interesting
6 month case starting there soon. 5 weeks was enough for me
Praps a little tongue in check. I know a QC who works for the CPS and was told, prosecutions by the CPS is a results game. There is not the resources to follow every case so cases get cherry picked. Basically something we all know happens but dont like hear it. So if the defendants have got that far there is a good chance there is a case to answer.
Prosecution done an awful job on our case. Didnt dig into facts properly. Lack of witnesses and didn't prove anything. So we were speculating over stuff while deliberating which shouldnt be the case.
Was a good feeling seeing the defendants faces when they heard the news. All this has gone on for about 5 years and you could see in there faces the amount of relief to get this off there chest