Last month I got a letter summoning me to Jury Duty on the 5th of October. I'll admit I was quite excited, hadn't done Jury Duty before. Everyone kept telling me ways to get out of it though, but I wanted to go. So I rocked up at 9am on Tuesday. You get given a number, you then go into a ballot and it's chance if you are called. They were actually selecting two jury's that day. First 13 people got picked and I was still sitting there. They started to then call people for the next jury. Fourth last number to be called, was mine! I felt so nervous walking up to take my seat in that box of 12 chairs. You have to sit in the same chair in the dock every time! There was an unlimited supply of Kool Mints in the jury room.But I quickly found out its not like an episode of Boston Legal! We got discharged today, 3 days after we had sat down, after we had handed down our findings. I really want to say more about the case but I don't think it would be a good idea to do that online. It was an experience, I can say I have played a small part in the justice system. Tomorrow I am going to take the girls to their swimming lessons and then sew all afternoon to make up for lost time.
4 comments:
Too bad it was such a short case. It would have been exciting all the same. I've always wanted to do Jury duty. Enjoy the extra sewing time!
I got selected to do jury duty this year but with my being a carer with two special needs people in my family I thought that it would be too difficult to travel the 60km to the court each day & still care for them so I sent in my info for an exemption and never heard back from them. Although I do admit the idea of being on a jury does seem interesting.
As an attorney in the US, I am interested in your jury experience. Was it a civil or ciminal trial? Based upon your blog post, I assume that the jurors did not speak with attorneys following the verdict being announced - correct? Did the Court prohibit you from speaking with the attorneys? Most attorneys appreciate a juror's comments even when critical of the attorney's "performance" in the courtroom. After all, we all learn from experience. BTW, do the trial attorneys in Australia wear wigs like their counterparts in GB?
I enjoy your blog and just love the quilts you make!
Well, 3 days sounds like a jurist's dream. I love how you embraced your civic duty! Well done. I've never been called (touching my wooden desk) but I think I could handle 3 days. Except if it was for an awful mean person who did something horrific, then I would find it too hard and would probably cry the whole time.
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