8 weeks Jury Service

SailorSam

I've been called up for Jury Duty twice now, initially it was for 2 weeks. When they were picking a jury near the end of the time, if they thought the case was going to be a long one, they asked if you didn't want to go on just say, and they'd pick someone else. There was no pressure put on us to stay longer than the 2 weeks.

AJ1982

Can u ask for a Jury service deferr? They will catch up with you again, but maybe you wont get an 8 week trial this time.

Aquamania

kizkiz wrote: »

I had this situation when i did jury service some years ago.
A large number of us were called into the court room and told it would be a 10 week trial.
The judge asked that anyone called forward approach the bench if they had a valid reason, or simply did not want to do such a long trial.
He let those who had a weak excuse stand to the side and filled the jury with enough willing participants. If not enough, then those would have to have done the service
It seemed sensible to me, but I suspect is not standard practice

No, what you describe is more or less standard practice.

If the trial is expected to last more than 10 working days, those selected for that particular trial (and you won't know that usually by the letter - you get assigned to a trail, if any, once you are at the courthouse) get asked by the judge if they have any issues attending for so long.

I don't really know what would happen if they couldn't get enough willing participants as I've never seen that situation ever occur, but ultimately part of the judge's role is to progress cases on a timely basis, so I suppose if it came to it, he would have to assess the objections on a case by case basis and tell the unlucky people with the least valid reasons, that it's tough ... or delay the trial.

Aquamania

AJ1982 wrote: »

Can u ask for a Jury service deferr? They will catch up with you again, but maybe you wont get an 8 week trial this time.

You could request this, but again reasons for a deferral request would need to be provided.

DKLS

AJ1982 wrote: »

Can u ask for a Jury service deferr? They will catch up with you again, but maybe you wont get an 8 week trial this time.

You can I have deferred 3 times, last time I had the perfect excuse, I was working on a critical project for the ministry of Justice. I did encounter a stroppy clerk, but one phone call from my boss, and it was deferred for a year.

Gavin83

DKLS wrote: »

Sadly not, hence why Jury service isn't popular with contractors, If your on £500 a day +, being compensated £65 a day is going to sting.

Civic duty comes at quite a price for some.

If I was in that position I just wouldn't bother going. Chances are nothing would happen anyway but even if it did the maximum fine is £1000, you'd lose way more than that doing the jury service.

skintpaul

I think it will be a minimum of two weeks, even if not called to sit in on a case.

I was on duty a while ago, and one case got stopped overnight, after we had been 'sworn in', so didn't even see any action!

Got quite good at puzzles, while waiting!

pmduk

Even if you get called for a case expected to last more than 10 days, it's not unusual for case to to end much quicker than that - I suspect the opposite is true.

Aquamania

pmduk wrote: »

Even if you get called for a case expected to last more than 10 days, it's not unusual for case to to end much quicker than that - I suspect the opposite is true.

Whilst it is not unusual for a trial to be over quicker than expected for a number of reasons (trial collapses, defendant changes plea, etc), it is very rare for a trial to be prolonged.

If the trial is over quicker than expected, then that releases a juror to possibly sit on another trial in that 10 working day period.

Sometimes trials are classed as 'floaters' (as opposed to fixed). These tend to be short trials, involving lower level crimes, and can heard in any court (within the courthouse) as and when a court & judge becomes available.

And many fixed trials are often expected to be over within the day.

As I mentioned earlier, it is the role of judge in part to progress cases on a timely basis, and this includes time management of the trial itself. The time allotted to any trial is agreed by both councils and the judge in advance.
To allow a trial to extend beyond the allotted time would cause all sorts of issues, as the court-room (and so the judge) would already be booked up with forthcoming cases.
Councils themselves may also be booked up elsewhere in any court/courthouse.
It's not just about jurors (unless agreeing otherwise) only expected to do 10 working days maximim.

Kez1983

I was on jury service a couple of months ago and while I was there two of the courts had trials going on which has already lasted over 4 months!


On my last day they called a "double panel" down to the court - 30 jurors rather an 15 and said it was expected to be a very long case and did anyone have any objections. These people then were excused and they called the jury from the rest!


I however sat in the waiting room for the first week bored out of my mind not getting picked for anything, then served on 4 separate cases in the second week!