Jury Duty... I Got A Case!

[BlueBallz]

OK then I got a jury duty summons last week, went down and got picked. I am still on it. While I cannot talk about it its OK to just say generic things about my service and I wanted to do that. People try and get out of it I know but it has been an interesting experience. Its a criminal case and its quite serious. We have an awesome responsibility.

I was wondering what some other members' countries do i.e court cases especially criminal ones. I know how this would have went down in Thailand........................

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!

[Guest]

I've been summoned twice but managed to come up with a ''valid'' excuse each time to be excused.
I'll leave jury duty to the moral crusaders, it's not for me

[seanbeag7]

I got called up and as i was going to be away working at the time, i had to refuse. so the court official ordered that my name be struck off the registrar for elections as i don't live at home even thought i have voted at home for 20 years now.

So now that my name is struck off i sent that official a letter thanking him for sticking off my name and i will make sure in future to never put my name up for voting again.

I know i am right, as i feel this was a very harsh way in dealing with my request not to serve on jury duty.

[smuttleydfs]

Gee the courts better hope that the trial isn't some wall street right winger that scammed billions......they'll get a hung jury won't they BB!!!

[BlueBallz]

Gee Pentire I am sorry that you feel jurors are "moral crusauders". I think thats just sad.

Smutts how do I respond to that?? No, nothing to do with Wall Streeters........I know you are pulling my chain. Having said that, I dont know why you think I would side with white collar criminals who cheat, make poor decisions and then run to the govt for cover.......

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!!!

[BlueBallz]

Seanbeag I forget where you are from so what the deal-you can refuse jury service but then you arent allowed to vote?? Wheres that then??

[jimslim]

I got collared for jury service about a year ago for six weeks , and recently got called up again .

Luckily I managed to escape this time as I argued that in the current economic climate it would be unfair on me and my employer if I was absent from work again so soon after the last occasion , after putting this in writing and sweating on the outcome for two weeks I was excused .

I completely hated doing jury service , I resented the responsibility being forced on me without my choice in the matter , I live in a country were doing things like jury service can be a dangerous way to spend a few weeks of your life .

On a side note its interesting how peoples prejudices come into play in situations like this , one juror was determined to find a guy guilty because he just didn't like the look of him , the foreman of the jury insisted in consulting his stars in the daily paper before making any decisions .

Justice

[seanbeag7]

Buleballz's i was talking about the bullshite justice system in the west of Ireland, where there is more sympathy for the guilty person than for the victim.

[allstar88]

i did jury service about 20 years ago for two weeks and alot of the time you were sat about in a room waiting to go into court and be picked i was on two cases assault and theft and on the theft case he got 6 months in side.about 3 month later this same toe rag bumped into me in a bar and started mouthing off   be careful out there blueballz

[perth_couple]

Hey BB,

Jury duty should be treated as a massively important civic duty, more often than not however it's treated like a pain in the ass chore one should try and avoid..

Good on you for doing your bit..

[BlueBallz]

Perth Couple thanks for the support!! Yes, it is a pain in the ass and peple try to avoid it like the plauge. But sitting in that courtroom, listening to everything and knowing we are deciding someones fate.......its a lot to process. Normally I am slighty to the right of Attila the Hun OOOPS I meant Stogie i.e. I have no compassion for the mutants who run around committing crime. But I tell you, inside the courtroom, one HAS to temper that kind of thinking.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!

[kahuna]

(perth_couple @ Feb. 22 2009,18:25) Jury duty should be treated as a massively important civic duty

I have been called to duty four times...I only served on one jury...As inconvenient as it was to take two weeks from work,
I was reminded daily how fortunate we are to have a system that allows us to be judged by a group of our peers...

[PigDogg]

I've always found jury duty interesting.

I'd still receive my salary from work, so that took the stress out of it.

In one case, a guy was pissed that another guy's dog took a crap on his doormat so he went upstairs and the shot the guy not the dog.

[BlueBallz]

I echo what Kahuna said. My view is tempered by the fact that I wont be out of pocket too much for the duty. Let me just say that the case I am on would be handled quite differently elsewhere-LIKE IN THAILAND for instance.

PiggDogg you made that up!!! No you didnt did you?? What happened??

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

[koetjeboe]

i did jury service during the war.
piece of piss really.
we just worked on the fact that if he,s of african origin, he,s guilty.