Jury Service Summons anyone ?

Grammaretto,

I completely agree re see it as my civic duty & am truly sorry I have had to ask to be excused .
We are however going on a road trip holiday to France with our two KCC for 3 weeks . This would be right across our holiday dates ,which we have already had to move dates shorten weeks from 4-3 & pay extra for the ferry . I will just have to wait & see what response I get .

I did it years ago, and I really enjoyed the experience. There was a lot of waiting around at the beginning but once we were in the court it was fascinating I thought. I enjoyed the process of reaching the decision too, actually it was a bit like the political threads on Gransnet - if you’re a debater you willl enjoy it I’m sure.

It will be deferred if you’re due to be on holiday, as 25Avalon said, one of our number when I did it had been when she was originally called, which was for a spell about 2 months before.

I was called to the high court in Edinburgh about 40years ago. It was half term but I cancelled my holiday so DH took the DC away without me.

It was my civic duty. I wanted to do it.
I was called (50 names in a hat, 15 chosen)
It was attempted murder and fairly grizzly. I was swayed by both barristers to and fro in the summing up. Our jury discussions were most interesting. One of the jurors was very observant.

He got not proven, the Scottish verdict. One of the court officials afterwards said that these people and their relatives were regularly in court.

What has stayed with me was the voice of the doctor who saved the victim's life despite being verbally abused by the drunken victim.

Another memory was seeing the jury from the neighbouring trial, which was a tragic murder, weeping over their meal. We could see eachother but not speak.

I found it hard going home to an empty house and being unable to talk about the trial.
Nowadays, with social media, jurors can be identified and have added fears of perhaps being followed home!

Twice. But thankfully didn’t have to do either.
1st time was to Old Bailey in London. I was about 5 months pregnant and still throwing up a lot so was excused.
2nd time 16 years later was local but by then had my son who is Autistic so couldn’t leave him.
My daughter spent about 3 or 4 weeks doing it and came away disillusioned with the system.

I always dreaded being called and it finally came at the beginning of 2019. Luckily Covid came along and saved me! I haven't heard anything since 🤞

OH has been called twice - once in Swindon and the other time in Oxford. He was elected foreman both times. I’ve never been called.

I've been called three times and served twice. The two I served on were extremely boring. I wasn't looking forward to the third as it was a GBH case but I got excused because I knew the defendant

You can’t usually not attend jury service without a medical reason. What you can do if you are on holiday is make application to have jury service deferred and you will be called at a later date. I think you can only do this once. I did it because dh was just home from a serious heart operation and got called 6 months later.

It was the most boring experience waiting to see if you were called. On day 3 seven of us were told we weren’t needed and could go home. Cos of dh’s health I was one of the lucky ones

I say on jury service three years ago in the Crown Court. I found it fascinating!!

Are you sure they won't just change the date when you tell them you are on holiday for the specified dates?
I was called to the Crown Court some years ago, I had just broken my shoulder and arm so after a lot of tarradiddle managed to get the dates changed.

One of my cases concerned historic sexual abuse, and initially I wondered how on earth I was supposed to be able to tell, when it was one person’s word against the other’s. It was quite worrying.

However, as the case went on, it became pretty clear, to ten of us out of the 12 - there was a majority verdict.
Two of the jurors, however, had clearly made their minds up from the word go.

The judge had made it clear that if we had any doubt as to guilt, we must return a not guilty verdict. Which I dare say means that quite a few guilty ones will go free, but to me that has to be better than the alternative.

I did it once about 10 years ago. It was horrible. I hated every minute of that two weeks.

PS, a Canadian relative who was staying with MiL at the time, told me that in Canada I’ve had had to do it, breast-fed small baby or not. How true that is I don’t know - it would seem unduly harsh.

I did it a few years ago - found it very interesting.

Was also summoned decades ago, when I had a 3 year old and an entirely breast fed small baby, plus was only home for a couple of months from the Middle East. Was excused, no problem.
My MiL would gladly have taken my place - she’d never been summoned and was quite miffed about it!

Both DH and I have been both called and probably neither of the cases should have gone to court. My case, about 40 years ago, was a reclusive old man who claimed to have been burgled. The trouble was he should have had an interpreter as he spoke very little English. The case was dismissed. What I remember most are the uncomfortable high backed pews we sat in.
DH’s case was an alleged rape. However, there was no evidence at all, just he said, she said.

My husband did it and found it fascinating.
He was quite concerned though that some of the jurors were not very bright, he had to explain an awful lot to them.
I would love to do it.

I believe the cut off age for compulsory (unless you are excused) is 70. After that you may still be called but can decline.

I would love to have been called while I was employed as I would have got full pay (Local government and academia) but it was not to be. I got called once I had retired from employment and bacame self employed but I was not going to go in my own time. I got excused on health grounds. Never been called again and am now over the age.

My sister has been called twice. Got excused first time as her children were very young and she said she had no childcare support. Second time she had to report but was not chosen for a case.

I think its very much hit and miss.

Dh has been called twice one was a rape trial and the other a drugs related murder. Dd wanted to do it and was thrilled to be called as a 20 yr old and it was rape trial but particularly nasty as it was a child. Judge excused jury from having to be a jurors ever again. I would hate to be a juror.

I was exempt as I was a social worker and the person in the dock could well have been a client of mine!

Oopsadaisy,
You are correct about the age ,which is why I wrote in my OP that ‘ I my time was limited ‘

I was called. I was on two cases, one drug smuggling, the second, as the foreperson, was burglary. Two of the best weeks of my life! It was like Rumpole of the Bailey. It was really interesting, I met some good people and dare I say it, had a bit of a laugh. (Not at anybody’s expense)

winterwhite

I was called to a coroner’s court many years ago. Two of the deaths were obviously suicide with family in each case present and desperate for an accidental verdict. Relieved to be told at end excused for 30 years.

Wintrwhite,
You obviously understand my feeling of not having to endure what could be something similar . My Dh who has dealt with many things like this in his professional life said I have been lucky in being able to be excused .
I wouldn’t have been able to cope with such a degree of information .😢
Though unlike others responses , I see it as a duty to be called .

Astitchintime

I have never been called either..........holiday planned for June and what are the chances of a call to service then.......would be just my luck.

Yep, that’s me in a nutshell , I had virtual given up as mentioned in my OP.
But ,but never say never Astitchintime , it’s not over ‘ Till the Fat Lady Sings ‘ lol

I worked for the probation service at the crown and magistrates courts for several years. We never had to sit through entire trials but was in court for indicting and sentencing. Occasionally during quiet times I would go and listen to bits of interesting trials. I was often struck by how clumsy the questioning of witnesses often was. Nothing slick like on tv.
There was occasionally an element of farce and humour in court and sometimes utter confusion. My most difficult case was recording the verdicts of 6 Chinese men all with incomprehensible names each accompanied by their interpreter. Each of the defendants claimed that they all spoke very different dialects and couldn’t understand each other so all had their own interpreter despite the fact that they had jointly carried out a kidnapping of the son of a wealthy businessman. They all received different sentences. Trying to work out who was who and what they were sentenced to was a nightmare. Even the clerk was confused.
When I started working in Crown I expected to find the judges rather pompous and out of touch with ordinary lives. But I often found myself feeling humbled by their humanity and understanding especially when sentencing someone for the first time particularly women who found themselves controlled by their drug addicted partner. For a first offence they occasionally remanded someone for a week to give them a taste of what prison was like then gave a community order. It was rare that they offended again.
I’ve only once been called for jury service but was exempt due to working for the probation service and having access to records. I’d love to be called again as it was a fascinating experience.

I was called to a coroner’s court many years ago. Two of the deaths were obviously suicide with family in each case present and desperate for an accidental verdict. Relieved to be told at end excused for 30 years.