Politics & Government The Jury Duty Thread

[djrossie16]

Sometimes cases are pursued even if a conviction is less than probable, because it's considered in the public interest to do so.

I was thinking along these lines. Thanks for your feedback

 

[Plugger35]

Did it once. Was one floggy hipster dooche who wanted to hurry everyone in deliberation. Other than that everyone else on the jury was pretty cool. It was an assault case. What struck out to me was the ineptness of the Crown lawyers compared with the Defense lawyers who seemed a lot more on the ball. I guess that's what money will get you! There also seemed to be a lot of going over the same facts. Pretty snooze worthy stuff. Basically in this case there was a scenario where the two blokes on trial were accused of chasing down and belting one of their sister's boyfriends who was a very nasty, abusive piece of work. In fact he had to be brought in from prison in cuffs to give evidence. He was a druggie who had had dozens of convictions for various crimes. That was probably the most interesting part of the 4 days watching the defense lawyers antagonise and discredit him him (which wasn't that hard to do) on the witness stand. To his credit the judge was on the ball to make sure this nutter didn't explode too much! So yeah ultimately it seemed like a bit of a vigilante job but a not guilty verdict was found due to the absence of any concrete evidence linking the two defendants to the assault. In their favour was the issue of a 'third party' who had been on trial previously and had plead guilty to the assault (taking all the blame) so it was easy for the defense in the trial I was at to shift the blame onto that party and the two defendants were portrayed as actually stopping the assault from actually going any further.

After the trial I thought about how a trial like this gets to trial from committal. I mean it seemed like the prosecution sent their worst lawyers who were more than a bit bumbling! Seemed like a bit of a waste of time. I came to the conclusion that maybe the lengthy time in between erodes some of the evidence and testimonies. Also seemed to be many contradictions and discrepancies between interviews and testimonies at the time and the trial testimonies. I guess it's an imperfect system in many ways but best we can up with.

It was the same with my case, the defense lawyer was a hell of a lot better than the prosecution lawyer. The defense lawyer is one of the top lawyers in Perth, I've seen him interviewed on tv for other high profile cases, and he was very impressive with the way he went about his work, he knew how to work the jury with the way he spoke and with his eye contact, he made you pay attention. The prosecuting lawyer was bloody hopeless, she kept looking down at her notes and lacked conviction when she spoke hardly ever making eye contact with the jury and you just about fell asleep when she was droning on.

The performance of the lawyers shouldn't be the sole determinant of the verdict but it makes a big difference. If I was ever defending charges I'd want to get the defense lawyer from that case.

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Come on, someone give us some juicy goss about a case! I dare ya!

 

[katana]

so I just got the selection letter for jury duty.

i am quite interested in, say, up to a week of this. how likely is it to go beyond that? the court in question is close to an hour's drive from my house with no PT option, is there any additional consideration given to the depreciation and fuel costs of 2 hours of driving everyday? what's the go with lunch breaks? would i be able to go and get a couple of pints? if some of the other jurors were keen do they go and get a beer after the day in court? or is there some kind of, no talking outside the juror's room code.

cheers,

 

[Norwegian Blue]

I got called up about 30 years ago. I told my work about it, they said off you go let us know how long it's likely to take.

I rocked up, got selected, the charges were read against the defendant, they could be pretty much summed up as "got pissed, got into a fight with a mate at his house, then set fire to his beanbag". He then pled guilty, and we were discharged. Pity, as once I heard the charges I wanted to hear WTF had happened.

That was about 11am, I then had to hang around in case there was a need for more jurors in some other trial. Nope, allowed to leave about 3pm. Got paid for the day plus my normal salary, that was quite a bonus for a 20 something.

The best thing was, the sheriff explained that because I'd done my bit, I'd be off the juror rolls for a while. Haven't heard a peep out of them since.

My wife's been summonsed a few times but has played the "caring for children" card. Won't work again as the kids have left home.

 

[Quivorir]

I'm 35 and no summons yet. Would like to sit in one that goes for about a week tops I reckon. Feel I'd be over it by then unless it was a really interesting case.

 

[Teagueeee15]

so I just got the selection letter for jury duty.

i am quite interested in, say, up to a week of this. how likely is it to go beyond that? the court in question is close to an hour's drive from my house with no PT option, is there any additional consideration given to the depreciation and fuel costs of 2 hours of driving everyday? what's the go with lunch breaks? would i be able to go and get a couple of pints? if some of the other jurors were keen do they go and get a beer after the day in court? or is there some kind of, no talking outside the juror's room code.

cheers,

I got summonsed to the Victorian county court and my day went like this.

We were told to be there by no later than 9:30am, but for some reason nothing happened til about 11am. Up until 11am we were in a waiting area were you could read books, use wifi on your phone (it was quite nice). At 11am everyone was called into a theatre style seating section for about 400 people and you are given a number, which is all you will be referred to in the court from now on (I was number 108). After a rediculously long acknowledgement of country (with audience members groaning as it went on) they did their first pool selection.

During the pool selection they only tell you an estimated length of what the trial will be and which court it will be in (county or supreme). They select about 30 people and these people are then escorted into the court room. In the court room is the judge, clerks and the accused. In here you will hear details of the charges and names of any witnesses and the accused. You are instructed that if you know any of these people, to stand up and you will be excused. Once the charges are read out, the accused enters their plea, which should be not guilty if there is to be a trial. The judge then asks if people wish to be excused and what the reason is. You have the option of walking up to the clerk and writing down your reason and then the clerk hands it to the judge if you want to. Everyone who requested to be excused was and that was probably because mine was a peodophile case.

With those that are remaining, they do another random selection of 12 numbers and if your number is selected, you do a lap of the court past the accused and they can challenge any 3 and if challenged, you leave the court and head back to the main jury pool room. If not challenged, you take your seat in jury.

Those not selected go back to the pool room to see if they get picked for another trial and do the above again if so.

While the trial is on, you get a lunch break to go out and we had a WhatsApp group to stay in touch in case someone got sick or was late. You are not allowed to talk about the case away from other jurors and obviously cannot research the case. You get given a swipe pass to access a windowless jury room that has a kitchen and toilets similar to a studio apartment. Once deliberations start though, your phones are taken and you aren’t allowed outside that room unless the clerk accompanies all of the jury at once. Once this happens, they provide lunch for you.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

I turned it down with a letter from work, the inconvenience of the trip was to much.

 

[katana]

I turned it down with a letter from work, the inconvenience of the trip was to much.

what sort of argument did your work use in the letter?

 

[Big Sauce 21]

what sort of argument did your work use in the letter?

That I was required and unable to be covered due to leave of others during the date.

 

[tazaa]

If you can’t get out of it and have to go for at least 1 day, just tell the judge you know one of the witnesses or defendants through social media etc or highschool and they’ll let you go.

 

[Hamingja]

That I was required and unable to be covered due to leave of others during the date.

See if you get another one in 12 months time. They have done that to a family member 4 years in a row

 

[Big Sauce 21]

See if you get another one in 12 months time. They have done that to a family member 4 years in a row

This was over 5 years ago. Never came back for me.

 

[blueboy25]

I received my summons for Jury service last week, luckily I am interstate on the start date but with new legislation in WA, I have to choose a date in the next 6 months that I am in Perth and available for service.

If I don't turn up it's a $800 fine

Well I did end up getting a summons to attend about 18 months after this original post.

Ended up getting a aggravated assault case which lasted about 3 days. The defense lawyer was hopeless and the prosecution wasn't much better.

The case should never have gone to court, he was caught on video and he should have just pleaded guilty and got a lighter sentence.

A couple of memorable moments, one of the jurors was a lady in her early 20s who was pretty brash and confident and when the Judge asked for someone from the jury to be the foreman of the jury she nearly popper her shoulder out getting her arm up in time.

When it came for her to read out the verdict after our deliberations she panicked and didn't want to do it any more.

The guy sitting next to me was late 20's/early 30's surfer type dude and he kept leaning over to me to say the defendant keeps giving him the death stare.......and he was right every time you looked over at the defendant he had his eyes locked on old mate.

 

[Norwegian Blue]

Jury duty hell!

The 53-year-old and his co-offenders — Lindsay Kirschberg, Pasquale Loccisano, Gordon McAndrew and Mark Bryers — faced a marathon six-month trial in the NSW Supreme Court over the scheme.

The jury was played 110 hours of secret recordings which laid bare a crude plan involving the non-remittance of PAYG tax over about two years.

Construction boss George Alex jailed for conspiring to defraud ATO of more than $10 million

The 53-year-old and his four co-offenders faced a marathon six-month trial in the NSW Supreme Court over the scheme.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I got summonsed to the Victorian county court and my day went like this.

We were told to be there by no later than 9:30am, but for some reason nothing happened til about 11am. Up until 11am we were in a waiting area were you could read books, use wifi on your phone (it was quite nice). At 11am everyone was called into a theatre style seating section for about 400 people and you are given a number, which is all you will be referred to in the court from now on (I was number 108). After a rediculously long acknowledgement of country (with audience members groaning as it went on) they did their first pool selection.

During the pool selection they only tell you an estimated length of what the trial will be and which court it will be in (county or supreme). They select about 30 people and these people are then escorted into the court room. In the court room is the judge, clerks and the accused. In here you will hear details of the charges and names of any witnesses and the accused. You are instructed that if you know any of these people, to stand up and you will be excused. Once the charges are read out, the accused enters their plea, which should be not guilty if there is to be a trial. The judge then asks if people wish to be excused and what the reason is. You have the option of walking up to the clerk and writing down your reason and then the clerk hands it to the judge if you want to. Everyone who requested to be excused was and that was probably because mine was a peodophile case.

With those that are remaining, they do another random selection of 12 numbers and if your number is selected, you do a lap of the court past the accused and they can challenge any 3 and if challenged, you leave the court and head back to the main jury pool room. If not challenged, you take your seat in jury.

Those not selected go back to the pool room to see if they get picked for another trial and do the above again if so.

While the trial is on, you get a lunch break to go out and we had a WhatsApp group to stay in touch in case someone got sick or was late. You are not allowed to talk about the case away from other jurors and obviously cannot research the case. You get given a swipe pass to access a windowless jury room that has a kitchen and toilets similar to a studio apartment. Once deliberations start though, your phones are taken and you aren’t allowed outside that room unless the clerk accompanies all of the jury at once. Once this happens, they provide lunch for you.

This is pretty close to my experience, though What's App wasn't a thing when I did it.

Since I actually made it through to the final cut, it was quite interesting, I suppose, that I got a call (I remember it being around Anzac Day 2012) by someone who was very cross with me for not turning up to jury duty - I'd moved house and wasn't aware I'd got the letter. So I had to go again in a couple of weeks and got a bit of a doozy.

I was on for this one:

Moe car park slaughter 'beyond belief'

A man convicted of the murder and manslaughter of two men following a dispute over a car park in Victoria's Latrobe Valley last year has been sentenced to 31 years' jail.

www.theage.com.au

Well... for two days. The first thing was that the key prosecution witness (who'd beaten the crap out of the accused, before the accused stabbed his two mates) had form for possibly racially-motivated assaults against Indian people. So, when we were doing the walk past, he wasn't challenging anyone who looked like they may have been from that part of the world.

When they gave out the list of possible witnesses, I recall one or two said that "maybe" one of the names was familiar, it didn't seem that gruelling, but they were excused. Unless they were from the Latrobe Valley, I would have thought the odds were pretty long.

So, we had two witnesses: the guy I've mentioned above and his girlfriend. Both of them clearly found the responsibility of giving evidence and being challenged in the cross examination to be extremely harrowing and traumatic (unsurprisingly).

So we get to the start of day 3 and... he's sacked his defence team. We're dismissed. Presumably, just so he can do it again and put those people in the witness box another time.

Given the abbreviated time we had on the trial, I'm not sure what that means in terms of if I'll be called up again one day: I think those who have to do a murder trial are excused for life for future jury duty, but not sure if that would include someone who had my experience.

It was interesting, going through the range of emotions: from God I hope I don't get called, to please don't pick me for this - I'll be on this trial for weeks, to ultimately feeling a bit deflated that I had been dismissed with the rest of the jury.