Doing jury duty

[The Lurker]

I did jury duty over a year ago. Was expecting to either get a really bad nonce case or a long-winded financial one. It was the latter. Fraud and perverting the course of justice.

That said, it was genuinely interesting even if I did have the awkwardness of having the defendant hold the door open for me at the end of a day in court. Little did she know we were going to send her down at the end of the week. Well, maybe she did seeing as she broke the law.

Have you ever done jury duty?
Have you ever sent a nonce down?
Have you ever been tried by a jury?
Enter all your jury based stories here.

[thr0b]

I did it around half a decade ago. I found it worthwhile and very interesting.

Did three trials over two weeks. All related to sex crimes, and all defendants were found guilty (though not necessarily on all counts - reasonable doubt carries a lot of weight, even if they clearly committed 4/5 of the charges, and they were all for instance the same pattern, unless you're absolutely certain they did the fifth, they have to be innocent).

I'd do it again.

The group that did it the week before me were excused from ever having to do it again due to it being a long-winded bestiality trial.

[popcorn]

I've never done it and I've always wanted to because it sounds really interesting and everyone I know who's done it always moaned and said it was boring and I bet it isn't boring I bet it's interesting it's not fair.

[BlodwynPig]

I had a glass in face cunt, and a nonce.

The glass in the face we sent down

The nonce - well the thing we had to decided was fitness for trial - it was me against the others and in the end they convinced me that he wasn't FUCKING DROOLING SAD LOOPY, but a NONCE OF FRED WEST LEVEL AND SHOULD STAND TRIAL. They voted for me to be foreman and I got confused by the double negative judge and just said "yes" in response to his question - so don't know if nonce got trialled or looney-binned.

[bgmnts]

The thought of doing jury dury keeps me up at night.

[Consignia]

Yes, as I chronicled my experience here: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=27326.0

[The Lurker]

I've never done it and I've always wanted to because it sounds really interesting and everyone I know who's done it always moaned and said it was boring and I bet it isn't boring I bet it's interesting it's not fair.

I thought it was going to be really boring but it wasn't. I was picked for a case straight away though and didn't have much sitting around to do.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Never done it, would hate to do it. I guess trial by jury is better than other options but the idea of whether someone is guilty or innocent being decided by twelve members of the public is a bit scary.

[Consignia]

The thought of doing jury dury keeps me up at night.

An interesting non-medical alternative to viagra.

[drummersaredeaf]

2012, with Stoke City due to play Valencia in the knock out rounds of the Europa League, my mate gets called up to jury duty that week. He's a bit of a mega fan - wrote a blog and was a major contributor to the fanzine. He neglects to collude with his mates to book a flight and reply that he's booked a holiday that week against the advice of his peers. The rest of the group eventually arrange to fly on Tuesday morning to accommodate other members of the group various commitments. Text goes out on Monday morning to ask what rap the perp was on, and he'd changed his plea to guilty so the jury was dismissed. Boss refused to give him the rest of the week off to come out to us.

Valencia is really nice. Poor sod.

[imitationleather]

I've never done it but when I do they are definitely guilty.

[shiftwork2]

I've never done it but I'd be great as I have a very clear idea of the type of person I want to see less of.

[machotrouts]

I was called to court 2 years ago as one of many potential jurors. I was uncharacteristically rude and disruptive and hurt a woman by tripping over her leg (didn't apologise, her fault). I wore sunglasses the entire day, and occasionally spoke in a Spanish accent (don't remember why. Panic?). I went to the toilet while we were waiting, made a horrendous mess, and when I came out everyone had disappeared because they'd been called to the courtroom. A man who worked there in some capacity (ugly face, beautiful eyes) had to escort me there late on my own. He kept trying to hurry me, and I pointedly walked slower every time he did this. When I got there, eyes man didn't tell me where to sit, so I sat at the front row (obvious? Best seats?) which I eventually realised was for the defendant's friends and family. I forgot to turn off my Spotify which was playing on shuffle and I think the friends and family could hear the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing from the headphones around my neck. I was not ultimately called to the jury.

[Neomod]

A friend was on a jury last year for a nonce case (10 years abusing his 3 daughters). She said she was having nightmares every night.

Nonce found guilty of 23 charges.

[FredNurke]

Yes, a decade or so ago. It was interesting to see how everything worked, but fairly boring in practice (long waits, days off, being sent out while points of law are discussed). The thing that struck me is that there are occasions where the only people who haven't done this before are the jurors - and the barristers are definitely wise to this.

[Bazooka]

No, really want to though, and send some scum down into the slammer.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Got called to the panel for a rape case, but wasn't selected.

Maybe just as well cos we were in a room with a TV feed where we could see the judge and defendant and I took one look at the dirty old bastard and decided he did it.

[Alberon]

Got called up about seven or eight years ago and.... spent three and a half days in the waiting area waiting for a case to start that didn't collapse or get resolved before the trial started.

Gutted to get sent home without even setting foot in a court.

[DrGreggles]

Had a jury duty letter, but it was sent to an old address so I just pretended I'd never seen it.

Best jury duty story ever?

[Shit Good Nose]

Something I NEVER EVER want to do, and it bewilders me that so many people seem so excited about the prospect of doing it.  Like bgmnts, if I think about it gives me huge anxiety.

My dad got called up once for the standard however-many-trials-you-cover-in-the-two-to-three-weeks or whatever deal, and BOOM - the very first trial they got was an incredibly nasty rape case that ended up going on for months because of numerous complexities that only came to light during the trial.  Half the jury were replaced part-way through because they couldn't donate their time any longer which made it go on even longer than it needed to as they basically had to start all over again, the other half (including my dad) had to sit through days if not weeks of grim testimony, photos and secret audio and video recordings.  My dad said one of the other full-timers had physically aged by the end of the process.  The perp was sent down for the maximum term, which was a unanimous decision, but it apparently resulted in affecting the mental health of a couple of jurors.

All of you who want to do it must have some form of incorrect brain wiring.

[Petey Pate]

How are juries being done right now?  Do they all have to sit 2 metres from each other in the courthouse or can they just use zoom?

[ollyboro]

Turned up, signed in, got shown a courtroom, went for a break, got told if my name wasn't called out I could fuck off, fucked off home. I was there less than two hours. A couple of weeks later I got a cheque for nearly £700. Went to Portugal. For £350 an hour I would definitely consider doing it professionally.

[Ferris]

Yes, I was on a jury for a child murder. It was fucking grim actually.

Got paid (tax-free) for 13 weeks (instead of 11). Admin person at the court told me to keep it which should tell you how poor I was at the time.

Didn't send him down. Not enough evidence lads.

[Butchers Blind]

Would like to do it but only if I get to play Henry Fonda.

[Gurke and Hare]

I was on the jury for one of the Operation Peyzac trials.

I did it again about two years ago, attempted armed robbery this time. One of them went down, the other probably did it but there was enough reasonable doubt.

[Icehaven]

If you work do you still get paid for jury service as well as your regular salary?

[Suckton Clifney]

When my memoir 'The Many Shames of Suckton Clifney' is finally written, at least one chapter will be devoted to me in my mid twenties locking horns in jury duty with a thick man called Ralph. He needed to be challenged but in my fervour I ended up dominating the conversation like the entitled-to-speak white middle class graduate prick I was (and, as a later Shame ep wonders, still am... ?)

Apart from this, all I really remember is one member of the jury lying down because she wanted to go home, and suggesting that you should submit to the police in any circumstances even when the police officer is violent. She was a laugh.

I would do it again, partly to atone, partly because it's better than work, and partly because the cases were Grim But Interesting.

[Twit 2]

I was called up and was banking on an alpaca mishap, a surefire jolly. Then the judge span the roulette wheel and it landed on "absolute nonce trial." 2/10

[Ferris]

If you work do you still get paid for jury service as well as your regular salary?

My employer stopped paying me (and the courts paid me instead) but shitty bank accidentally quoted my pay as gross so that's the cheque I got every week. Mega!

[touchingcloth]

One of my most enjoyable Christmases ever was the one where I was involved in the trial of the Ceaușescus.