Jury Service

[EstoyRobandoSuCasa]

Following recent threads about particular trials, I have a few questions about people's experiences of Jury Service, but don't want to derail those threads.

What did the deliberating room look like? I've always pictured a fancy wood-panelled room with a royal crest on the wall, but I suspect I'm wrong!

Are you each given a juror number and asked to sit in numerical order on the benches, or can you sit where you like? Do you whisper to each other occasionally or are you completely silent?

Were any of your fellow jurors dismissed or discharged (not sure which term is correct)? If so, what happened? Did the judge explain their absence?

I don't know if you're allowed to talk about what happened in the deliberation room in general terms or if you mustn't say anything at all. But if you can say anything, I'd be interested to know if your fellow jurors seemed motivated and capable, or if there were any who didn't appear to understand the case, or who only cared about getting home ASAP?

A few years ago

Deliberation was a normal room with normal table and chairs.... a bit like what you might have in a secondary school.
Nothing fancy

I cant remember having a number but we all had to sit in the same place throughout the trial.

I'm pretty sure we were silent and listening to the trial, not whispering to each other having a chat or similar.

None of my fellow jurers were dismissed

When in the delibertaion room we could all talk about what we like

We all spoke

All our opinons were valid

Every person in the jury with me seemed competant.

TBH i think we were all desperate to get home, but we still did our job.... for days and days and days.

No desire to do it ever again. Was not a pleasant experiance, but I have now "been there and done that!"

Four years ago, normal room like a classroom. In court we always entered in the same order as our jury packs and notes were locked in the room on our desks overnight. Never spoke to each other in court. We all took our duties very seriously and I think we did a good job. Nobody was discharged. I chose to travel by train so I could gradually decompress and not dwell on the case (this was subconscious and I only realised in hindsight!) It meant, though I was very anxious about the defendants or their associates finding me, I didn’t think about the case until I was back the next morning. We were given a 15 year pass by the judge after completion of the case due to its long and complex nature. By chance I bumped into three jury members within a few months (we came from a very wide area!) but only one mentioned the case - only to say it was very gruelling and he thought we’d all done well. Weirdly, a year or so later, I saw an item in a charity shop that was exactly the same as a (very unusual) piece of evidence!
The whole thing was awful.

Personally never been called up but my step mother was. She worked within a large solicitors in the same town as the court. She attended the first day, but declared her job and that she might personally know the solicitor and possibly details of the case- they dismissed her.

DH was called up about 30yrs ago, but they spelt his name so wrong, or got the wrong person so he ignored and never hear anymore. His name is something like:
Joe Frank, but it was addressed to Joeski Frankenfurter.

Deliberation was in a big standard meeting room. We had to line up in number order in the corridor so we always sat in the same place. Everyone was competent and generally likeable, we all felt like friends by the end as there was plenty of time to sit around chatting in the waiting area. It was a bit weird walking away knowing that was it because it was so completely all-consuming especially as the sentencing wasn't till a couple of weeks later and I'd have like to see the others to discuss that (it was a murder case) plus some other unanswered questions. I reckon it was a least a year before I didn't think about it every day and things still remind me of it sometimes 15 years later. It was one of the most interesting things I've ever done.

I’ve been on a coroner’s court jury. It was a complicated complex case and experts explained things to us throughout. We could write questions down and the coroner would put them to the witnesses

Dc was in a Nightingale court in a hotel, so a regular hotel meeting room.

The main thing that really sticks in my mind from jury service is that juror number 10 had IBS and had to keep putting his hand up to go to the loo, and every time we had to clear the whole court. It took about 20-30 mins each time and probably added about three days to an already lengthy trial.

As the trial was soon after lockdown, the deliberation room was divided into little Perspex carrells and we each had a small folding exam-style desk in our plastic box. We were all masked the whole time in the jury room so had to bellow at each other to be heard. I’m pretty sure that with that and the open windows, all our deliberations could be heard from the street.

I was lucky in that the case I was a juror for was intricate and involving but not traumatic. My DP was not so lucky and found it very upsetting.

I've never done jury service myself, but studied law at university 20 years ago and used to do quite a bit of sitting in and watching in the magistrates and crown courts - did some work experience at my local crown court, got to chat to one of the judges and such. There was a murder trial just starting while I was there, jury was sworn in and prosecution did their opening speech then there was a break for lunch. By the start of the afternoon session one of the jurors had had some sort of moment and decided they couldn't manage the trial, it was all too distressing, so they abandoned that jury and were going to start again the next day.

There was a different murder trial going on that week where a fairly young girl (late teens? early twenties?) had stabbed her boyfriend in the kitchen because he slept with a friend of theirs. She seemed to have had a very troubled life and the whole thing was a mess, think her defence was diminished responsibility but can't remember what the outcome was now.

We worked on a bit of an "Innocence Project" thing at university as well, for the parents of this chap who had been convicted of murdering a friend of his even though no body was ever found and he maintained he had just had a fight with him then the other guy had left. That was also quite a mess.

Deliberation was like a conference room with a big table and a buzzer on the wall we could use to call our clerk. You are locked in. There was an enclosed toilet in the entry hall (about as big as mine at home).

when you’re in a trial you get given a number, you have to walk in in numerical order and sit in the same order. You get a folder for your notes with your juror number on, not your name.

we did whisper, usually pass the water/tissues please. But we did have one point where I looked at my neighbour and we both whispered that attraction is in a different county, and they wrote a message to the judge to ask the barrister to clarify where they meant.

no one was dismissed, we were all of the same opinion that it took as long as it took and no one was trying to end it early.

Thanks for all the responses so far. I'm finding it all strangely fascinating. I'd certainly never heard of Nightingale courts before.

when you’re in a trial you get given a number, you have to walk in in numerical order and sit in the same order.

What if that means you have a tall juror sitting in front of you for the whole trial and can't see much? (I'm pretty short). I'm not sure why I'm thinking about this - I haven't been called up.

Surely that juror with the health condition could have been excused from jury duty. I was called for jury duty a few years ago and have ongoing health conditions which include having to drink a lot of water and having to pee frequently as a consequence and also being on a high dose of warfarin so I have regular blood tests in a hospital among other delightful symptoms so my gp wrote a letter asking if I could be excused. Although maybe we aren't as strict in Ireland.

The second row of seats was higher, like at the theatre/cinema.

After we were selected we sat down to be addressed by the judge. At that point you’d make sure you didn’t sit behind the tall person. You kept that seat for the rest of the trial.

We nearly all got the giggles a couple of times. One of the lunchtimes when we are all in our restroom eating someone made an inappropriate joke about a piece of evidence and then we were all in hysterics, gallows humour I suppose, we had to make sure not to catch each others eye in the courtroom whenever that bit of evidence was discussed. There was also a juror who did a good impersonation of one of the QCs. But there was none of that once we got onto deliberations, everyone took it seriously, everyone’s opinion was respected.

I was on jury duty fairly recently. The biggest problem was the hours and hours of waiting around and doing nothing. Make sure you take a book to read, the phone signal was bad so I couldn’t really doom scroll either.
The courts I went to are fairly new so it was a meeting room with a table. Not glamorous.

No one was dismissed but I wasn’t chosen for a couple of cases so I left and returned to the waiting area. They take in extras at the start. Some people were excused if they knew people on the case.

The other jurors were a varied bunch and skill and understanding was at very different levels. Some were less capable. Self employed people were keen to leave as they lose so much money on jury duty. But that didn’t affect the outcome.

We were not given numbers.
You can only talk about the case when you’re in the jury room and everyone is present. If someone went to the loo we paused.

I’d do it again but not a long case. It’s a lot.

What did the deliberating room look like? I've always pictured a fancy wood-panelled room with a royal crest on the wall, but I suspect I'm wrong!

Of course you are wrong unless you are exceptionally in an old court like the Old Bailey. A court is a publicly funded building and most of them are falling apart. It was a tiny office room literally just big enough to take a table of 12 people and no real room to get round when everyone was seated a bit of a squeeze with sealed shut windows. Like an underfunded public library.

Are you each given a juror number and asked to sit in numerical order on the benches, or can you sit where you like?

A pool of jurors are called into the court room more than 12. I think about 14 or 16, twelve names are drawn and you go into the jury box in the order you are called and fill up the row from the front row one by one then the back row. then you sit in the same seat for the rest of the trial. I was not given a number.

Do you whisper to each other occasionally or are you completely silent?

We were all silent. I expect if there was whispering the judge would pull you up as potential deliberation in the absence of all the jurors. You are told that you must not discuss the case at all unless you are all together and during deliberations you aren't allow to break apart. If someone goes to the loo you have to wait before carrying on the discussion.

Were any of your fellow jurors dismissed or discharged (not sure which term is correct)? If so, what happened? Did the judge explain their absence?

No. Someone was late because they had an emergency and we were told this and the court was going to sit 30 mins later when they arrived.

Have you watched The Jury on channel four?
Seen 'The Jury: Murder Trial'? Watch it here on Channel 4:

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-jury-murder-trial?cntsrc=social_share_ios_the_jury_murder_trial

When I did it one of my fellow jurors was excused as they thanked the judge for finding them not guilty in their previous trial.

Very hard to keep a straight face.

I did jury service in 2021 in a nightingale court - which was a theatre so not a typical venue😆 We had a single case that lasted two weeks (with one day sent home because the barrister wasn't well).

Social distancing and masks were still a thing. We wore our masks in court (which i thought was quite handy for hiding my expression). We didnt wear them in the jury room as we sat at individual desks.

As PP says the jury is only allowed to discuss the case when you're all together. One of the jurors lived near me so I gave her a lift in, and we did stick to that.

I was worried that my fellow jurors might be idiots but happily they all contributed sensibly.

I was the foreman who got to relay our verdict to the judge. I volunteered because I know few people like speaking in publicly, and because I wanted the satisfaction of pronouncing the defendant guilty.

The days are quite short but intense. The barristers were seriously impressive, the judge was clearly experienced and considerate of the jury.

There's no separation of jury from defendants' supporters outside the court building so we'd be walking back to the car park at the same time

I did my jury service in September/october. The deliberation room was very ordinary just had a tv so we could rewatch cctv and bodywork etc and comfy chairs with tea and coffee making facilities.

Was silent in the court room, and sat in juror number order

I was actually discharged during deliberation as my grandfather died. The Judge had to be asked and approve me leaving. The process of my family actually getting the message to me was very poor and added to an already distressing situation. I don’t know what was said about my absence.

edit to add what the tv was actually for

This is really interesting. I’ve never been on a jury (would love to!) though got called up 25years ago but I had a newborn at the time so was excused.
Has anyone ever kept in touch with their fellow jurors? Are you allowed to discuss the case with anyone once the verdict is given and it is ‘out there’ in the media? Has anyone served on a jury and happened upon a friend/acquaintance on the same jury? Would that be allowed? Would you declare it? Are you offered counselling/support if it is a particularly tragic case?
Has anyone served on a murder case where the verdict was not guilty but you were convinced they were guilty?
Sorry - so many questions 🙈

Ordinary smallish meeting room. We could sit where we wanted at all times. Intelligent group on the whole. A positive experience overall.

Are you allowed to discuss the case with anyone once the verdict is given and it is ‘out there’ in the media?

Jurors can discuss the case afterwards but not the jurors' deliberations.

I did my jury service at the old Bailey, the court room was a very impressive wood panelled affair but I don’t remember much about the deliberation room. I do remember the benches were very uncomfortable, possibly not helped by my being pregnant at the time.
No jurors were dismissed but I was excused from any long trials due to the pregnancy, so thankfully ended up on a short drugs trial rather than anything distressing.