Grand Jury Duty

[anacostiakat]

Just finished up five weeks of Grand Jury Duty here.  Homicides and Major Crimes.  This is my second time being called and I have found it very rewarding in terms of learning the laws and what is going on in your city/area.  However, I do find it very disruptive to your normal schedule.

Here you can be called for Pettit Jury (one day or one trial) or Grand Jury Duty (duration depends on the jury you get called for.  Could be five days a week for five weeks or three days a week for eight weeks).  You can also get called for Federal jury duty here.  Yea, a bit much.

But I was wondering on how the jury system works in other countries.  So if you have been called in your respective countries I would be interested in knowing how it works.

 

[Fuzz]

Once got a letter calling me up for jury duty. 2 weeks before I had to appear for duty, got another letter telling me I was no longer required.

[Corylax18]

I've only heard of the "petite duty" as you refer to it. But, I think its the luck of the draw here. They send you the slip, you go down to the courthouse and they ask you a bunch of questions. Your answers to those questions dictate what case you will be assigned, or they may just send you home. I've never had to participate, but my brother has been called for the "petite duty" twice and never actually had to sit through a trial. My mother did sit on the Jury of a multiple murder case out side Philadelphia in the Mid 90's, but you know she cant talk about it..............  

[cosmoker]

Thank you Anacostiakat for doing your civic duty. I served on a Grand Jury for a year several years ago. I learned a lot about the process and enjoyed it. We heard several interesting cases that were in the news at the time. I wanted to talk to my wife about them but could not. Finally when it was finished and we could discuss the cases I just spewed everything I had seen and heard to her. I don't know if I would want to do it again, but if called you don't really get a choice. I just felt like that if a case went through the grand jury and was sent to trial. Then they are most likely guilty. I know I know.  I should not judge. But once you sit through that you feel like if they (Grand Jury) have said yes then????  Anyway glad you enjoyed it.

[El Presidente]

I was called up twice in Oz. The Manslaughter case went for a week. 

What concerned me was that a "jury of your peers" ended up being a jury carefully weeded of people who actually had a significant job. You can get out of Jury duty here quite easily. In the end the Jury "pool" was mainly retired, unemployed or working for Government (public service). 

The experience taught me to condider a "judge alone" trial if the situation ever came up. 

[ebhead]

I don't know if this helps, or puts you to sleep but here's my experience with it. This is the unabridged version, so if you're bored to tears by the end I apologize.

This covers the overall/general process here in Toronto, Canada. Other jurisdictions in Canada will have slight variations, I believe, so this is by no means definitive.

About a month or so prior to showing up for jury duty I got a letter (this has happened twice to me) stating when and where to appear for jury duty. The letters I've received state that I would be on “call” for jury duty for three weeks, the first of which I would need to serve in the courthouse. This basically involves going to the courthouse, registering and then sitting with about 200-300 people in a massive room for a week waiting to be called for jury duty. Technically you're there for the whole week so you could end up getting called for a one day trial then have to go back and wait for the next call up. 

In the room you're initially given a colour code (usually four colours) and you sit the whole week with that colour code. You could be there the whole day, part of a day, or they could send you all home at any time. This is dependent on whether there are any jury cases going on, or whether the cases are ready for jury selection. If there are no cases ready you could be sent home for the week. This for both civil and criminal cases (although civil cases going to jury are very rare).

For my second stint on jury duty I had been in the jury room for the first morning when my colour code and another got called up to a case. About 100 of us filed to the courtroom where we were then randomly broken up into groups of 15-20 (you're called by your juror number). Side note, no member of the jury has his/her name spoken due to privacy issues. Once the jury pool required are segregated into smaller groupings we are then told when to appear at the selection stage, which could be in 20 minutes or in two days. My smaller group got chosen to go back to court in the afternoon. This is the time you're then presented to the defendant and are to look at and acknowledge each other. Depending on the case you may get question(s) asked by the judge or defence attorney (which were agreed upon by all sides). This time the question was whether I could be impartial in my duties considering the defendant was a minority. Then the defence attorney, crown (prosecuting attorney in Canada) or the jury can accept or reject you. Depending on the severity of the charges each side gets a predetermined number of challenges, except the jury members already chosen which can reject any number, I think. I got rejected by the crown and was asked to leave (not uncommon). Once outside the courtroom I was told I could go home until tomorrow at which point I would go back into the pool until the end of the week. If I had been chosen would have been on the jury for a four month trial (which they inform you of at the beginning in case you have any potential objections).

The next morning my colour code got called up again and went through the above, in condensed form, but this time was picked to be on a jury on a trial. It was a short trial, lasted four days. Fascinating experience in understanding what happens in a criminal case. And, never ever, no matter how much you hate them be your own lawyer. 

Now I am free for three years at which point I will get called up again if my history is any guide. I also have friends who have never been called up.

Some points on jury duty here:

•      Jury members are not allowed to talk about the deliberations to anyone. We can talk about the case as that is public but not what we discussed in the room;
• ·      Jury members are not allowed to be asked about deliberations at all by anyone (both this and the above point are criminal offences here);
• ·      Prior to jury duty you're sent a questionnaire to complete;
• ·      You can defer jury duty if you have good cause (e.g. Booked vacation, or your company will not pay you) but technically cannot refuse to sit on a jury pool;
• ·      You can provide objections to the judge if the particular case is an issue (you've been called for a domestic abuse trial and you have experienced it) at which point the judge can excuse you from the trial but this must done prior to being chosen as a jury member;
• I believe there are other instances where you would get called up for a specific trial;
• From my experience judges are absolute rulers of their courtrooms.

If you've made it this far congrats.

e

 

[anacostiakat]

Not too different to the what I am used to here except for the week long wait for what is called Pettit Jury here where you actually convict someone or not. 

I might add that once you have been called for either Pettit or Grand Jury you have a two year wait before you can be called.  However,    in Grand Jury you can be called back anytime in an eighteen month window if it is deemed necessary.  From what I understand it is very unusual and doesn't happen often.  There are two "recall" days also for Grand Jury that are not included in the consecutive days of service.  Usually spaced out by two weeks.  In our case we are being called back for one more (3rd) "recall" day to finish a case for one of the Assistant District Attorneys.  This basically means we will vote on that case for him to indict or not.  Once an indictment is voted the case moves to the courts for an actual trial.  A vote of not to indict is called an Ignoramous! 

[PapaDisco]

My wife and I each get jury summons nearly every year.  She's had to actually go in twice in the last 10 years, never got interviewed for a jury.  I was called in once, and also never got interviewed.  I've been told by lawyers that they (the litigating attorneys) prefer not having educated working professionals on civil juries because they really want jurists that don't know anything about the subject matter.  I don't know if that strategy also applies for criminal cases.

[luv2fly]

Called "Stacking the Jury Box".  So glad i have never been called.  Guess they have never called me because I look so bad on paper...not sure why.