Have you ever been called for Jury Duty?

I was called about 20 years ago. The case was one where someone crashed into a car parked on the side of a country road and cause major injuries to the owner of the parked car.
The person who hit him was charged with “Reckless Driving causing injury”
Found him not guilty because the parked car was on a corner and the other car had really no time to take evasive action.
Trial took two days.
I was paid two days wages, tax free.

I think it must have been 20 years ago when I was called. It was about two schoolgirls who got into a fight over a mobile phone.

The worst thing about it was not being paid travel expenses to go to court and their rip-off restaurant.

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Australia has a brilliant reimbursement system for jury duty.
Full wages paid, tax free. Meals provided free,

I have. It was a very cut case except one of the jurors. He wanted to make a case it for for the all the wrong reasons. It took two hours instead of less than than ten minutes…

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Yes did jury service at a crown court

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i was on duty at the Assizes it was a coloured guy accused of breaking into 9 different places, most were very doubtful to me, but there were fingerprints evidence in the three others…lol… it was many years before i found out that the police [or anyone else for that matter] could transfer fingerprints using selo-tape… anyway off we go to the jury room, we hadnt sat down before one guy from Barnsley said ‘well this wont take long’ ‘hows that?’ i asked…lol… the Barnsley lad admitted he had pigeons flying in a race so wanted home, he didnt manage it…lol… I got the man off five of the charges, the Judge congratulated us saying he didnt often get to congratulate juries but he thought we had done a good job…lol… the trial took three days so i took the week off, i know i was naughty…

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Yes I was selected for a fortnight’s jury duty at Crown Court. I was lucky enough to be retained for 3 cases, too - child molestation, gun crime and fraud. The first two lasted a few days each and the third was discontinued on a technicality. All travel expenses were paid and jurors’ meals and refreshments were provided free.

IIRC, a loss of earnings allowance was available, which I claimed but which was then deducted from my salary on return to work, so I made no profit there. Apparently, the longer the jury service lasts, the allowance increases exponentially.

Although the first two cases were, to say the least, unsettling, I was spared the harrowing experience of some other jurors who sat on murder trials with explicit evidence of violent death.

I’d have done it again if called up but, AFAIK, I’m too old now.

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Yes,year ago.About a punch up in a pub.I though it was good fun.There was a lot of bad language involved and the judge seemed to enjoy reading it all out :grinning:
My father did it three times.

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I was called 40+ year ago , I had a very young daughter who I was not prepared to leave to someone else to look after , so I got out of it , The excuse was accepted , and I was never called again , .

Yes, but I got out of it due to a health problem.

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Yes, I was on the list for two consecutive terms in the early 1990s (its a random ballot and I think it lasts two years each term) but I haven’t been called since.

Most of the cases were civil - insurance, workers comp etc - Jury of four, none of them went the term, in the end I didn’t even bother to make notes each side just wanted to see the other side’s case and then come to a settlement. From memory there were only a few criminal cases and a traffic offence and we found the defendants not guilty in every case.

My employer at the time paid my full wages for jury duty so I didn’t even have to make a claim against the court. I am glad my name has never come up again there was a lot of sitting about though they did feed us well.

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Nope! However, we became witness for the prosecution. Mother and I lived above where an attempted murder and/or disabling injury to the wife’s husband by ex-husband. Nasty situation!

We were granted an expedited house move. We moved out quickly and never heard a thing about it. Sadly, due to the accused being AWOL we never found out if it went to trial. The injured was permanently disabled. He was in hospital for nearly two years.

No idea what happened afterwards!

I went about five years ago. Really boring, mostly sitting around in the waiting area waiting to be called if needed for two weeks

When I finally got called in and sworn in for a case, it ended up being cancelled because one of the other jurors realised they knew the accused!

We would have got paid a daily allowance for attending for the two weeks if we lost salary but my employers just covered it and paid me as normal

We got a card with an allowance for refreshments and there was a funny little refreshment bar that did nice hot chocolate

Mostly I just read my book and the newspaper and did a bit of paperwork and chatted to the other people waiting

Many years ago my dad got called to a murder case on the Old Bailey. It was a bit of an issue because at the time the death penalty was still in place and he didn’t believe in it

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Maybe the system is a little different here in Australia.
Because I was accepted to be a juror on my first appearance there was not waiting around.
After the jury was chosen we went into court and partook of the duties of a juror over a three day trial.
Yes, my memory is a tad fuzzy as this was over 30 years ago, I thought it might have been twenty years, but counting back it was definitely closer to thirty years.

Fortunately not.

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There will be a letter in the mail awaiting you next week. Appear for jury selection. :slightly_smiling_face:

Our system is that they call in a lot more than they actually need so they have a pool to draw on as the cases are heard

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No. Think my Dad may have been the only family member to have done it,

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I was on the jury of a murder trial about nine years ago. It was harrowing to say the least and at the end of the trial the judge released the jury from being called again for at least 10 years - although my age would have precluded me from being called again anyway.

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I have actually been called on three occasions whilst my husband has never been called.

On the first occasion, I was not selected to serve on the appointed jury.
My second call came when I had two children under 5 and, like Eliza, I was excused.
On the final occasion, I did serve on the jury and found it very frustrating. It involved a shop burglary with violence and although it was quite clear the individual charged was guilty (and indeed we later learned he had previous convictions) due to police incompetence we had no option but to declare a ‘not proven’ judgement. It was a very frustrating experience and I believe steps are currently underway to do away with this in Scotland. - not before time, I may add.

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