jury duty summons

Nephew

I got a summons for jury duty in the post this morning, it was the last thing i was expecting. I'm a full time student and i was hoping that i could use that as an excuse, or say i have exams at the start of may and i need to attend college as a reason for not doing jury duty? Its not exactly something that i would be enthusiastic about. How do they actually select people for jury duty summons?

xzanti

I think anyone without a criminal record gets called at some stage, they dont specially select people, unless its something like the Jacko trial... I think if you have a good excuse such as exams you can bow out of it but I could be wrong..

I wont be getting called :v:

rubadub

Turn up pissed, wearing rags, mumbling about hating all races and gardai.

Just like the judges!

Roddy23

Full time students get off.( Check the leaflet ye get with it)Was studying part time last year and working full time, got called, did it. Well I turned up for the four days, was never called. Got myself four days off work.
Loads of people never turned up.

andrew1977

i got called last year to do jury service,didnt fancy doing it, got a letter from my boss in work saying i was unable to attend due to busy time in work and people on holidays etc i was needed to cover the workload
it wasnt a busy time in work at all but saved me the bother of jury service .i am sure your college will help you out with a letter to excuse you ,
other than that, a doctors note will suffice and you will be excused

could be an interesting few days but if you decided to go

Binomate

I'd love to do jury duty over the summer or something. You get paid to judge people!!

besty

You may not even get chosen. The defence gets to reject certain jurors so look like you're a hard ass, judgmental type and you'll probably get the boot anyway

Nephew

just read the leaflet, it looks as if full time students are indeed excused. chuck norris is on the list under Persons excusable as of right. my mother opened the letter as soon as it arrived, thinking i'd done something illegal, so i hadn't bother to read the leaflet in any great detail taking her word for it.

Roddy23

ah students,is there anything we cant get out of doing.

pontovic

do you get paid for dury duty ?

ferdi

I'll see that Quimby boy hanged for this!

joe_chicken

depends on how many people they call and how big the case is, they picked 12 outta about 250 the first time i went, so i didnt even get called (names outta a hat thing)

They had to remake the jury 2 days later though and i got called up again

This time i got called (as only about 40 of the people turned up)

The problem is if you want to make an excuse they dont let you do it until you are just about to be sworn in. (Literally until you have the bible in your hand, I think its to intimidate you)
I told them i'd just started a contract position (which i had) that was only gonna last a few weeks, so they let me off.

its a pain in the ass

Siogfinsceal

get a letter from your tutors or get a letter off your doc saying you cant do it as your easily stressed or claustrophobic i know loads of people used that to get off

gibo_ie

i would love to do it too, sooo unfair

OSiriS

You can't put it down as an excuse not to attend the panel, but if you get called up tell the judge you are a full time student and can't afford to miss classes. I saw a good few people let go because if it in the central criminal court. If it's the circuit court you might not get off so easy as the cases tend to be alot shorter.

joe_chicken

besty wrote:

You may not even get chosen. The defence gets to reject certain jurors so look like you're a hard ass, judgmental type and you'll probably get the boot anyway

Both the defendent and the accused get to dismiss jurors... its really hard to tell who's gonna get dismissed

Nephew

so even though full time students are exempt i'll still have to turn up on the day of trial? its in wicklow so would i stand a better chance of being picked, than say if it was in dublin?

maybe i should turn up wearing a tshirt with 'you're guilty' on it to dissuade them from picking me.

Siogfinsceal

wave at the accused, pretend you know them

Nephew

to be honest i probably would know them:D

Kojak

Siogfinsceal wrote:

wave at the accused, pretend you know them

I'm sure you'll be allowed to continue then.

foggy

There is a form you have to fill in with the letter you got, you fill it in saying that you can't do it as you are a full time student with exams coming up. You post it back to the court and you'll get a letter excusing you. You don't have to turn up in court at all.
I got it about two weeks ago but got excused.

impr0v

Or wear a T-shirt saying 'this juror is for sale' with your phone number underneath.

I'm not sure if you can be prosecuted for primia facia criminal contempt of court if it's not yet in session.

Santa Claus

Does anyone know if you have an immediate member of your family who's a garda can you still get called ? (I mean you'd obviously be more likely to not question any evidence given by a garda)

rubadub

Nephew wrote:

my mother opened the letter as soon as it arrived, thinking i'd done something illegal,

Jesus, the nosey fuking bitch. She breaks the law because she thinks you did? She could be done for that if you reported it. I think in some states in the US it would be a few years in prision, dunno what you would get here.

If my mother did that I would send her a fake summons and have a mate she doesnt know serve it to her. Then tell her I would drop the charges under a few conditions.

gracehopper

you'll get out of it handy enough. Post the letter back explaining you're a full time student and you'll be except. I went for duty about 2 weeks ago. Time off work was grand but it was a bit boring to be honest. Watching people getting sent to jail is a bit of a weird experience.

Red Alert

your employer or the state (not sure which) will pay you for the day so if you're bored with work you might as well do it.

rubadub

BTW if you do go along and you get me I am innocent, I was seeing that labrador for ages before I took things further...

And it was a female dog before you sickos get any ideas :v:

pcwares

full time student are exempt.

skywalker

Siogfinsceal wrote:

wave at the accused, pretend you know them

hahah That would be a funny one.


Out of interest what happens if your dismissed? Like is it just go home & head into work the next day, or do you still get the week off?

mandz

rubadub wrote:

BTW if you do go along and you get me I am innocent, I was seeing that labrador for ages before I took things further...

And it was a female dog before you sickos get any ideas :v:

that just reminds of the episode of Boston Legal last night on living tv, a mans wife was seeking an annulment of the marraige because her husband was in love with a cow, she said he even called her the cows name while making love to her. i missed a bit but i think it got physical between him and the cow!! was quite funny especially when he was being cross examined and said that the cow reminded him of his wife.

I wouldn't mind been called up for jury duty i'd love the paid time off work!! No matter how boring it is, I'd be kinda interested given i wanna be a solicitor eventually!!

Tony Danza

Get a letter from the college saying your a full time student and post it back with the form they give you. It says what to do on the leaflet. I went for jury duty a while ago, what a load of shít, if I get a called again I'm definately getting out of it.

mad m

I got one myself, and I'm going.Cant wait to say GUILTY malord!!! hehe.

Binomate

mad m wrote:

I got one myself, and I'm going.Cant wait to say GUILTY malord!!! hehe.

LOL!

Zillah

Students are exempt from jury duty.

You still have to show up for that day though, then find the clerk and tell them you're a student and bring some proof. Done.

Lambsbread

Zillah wrote:

You still have to show up for that day though, then find the clerk and tell them you're a student and bring some proof. Done.

No you don't.

When i was called i simply got a letter from student services that said i was a full time student and sent it back to the court registrar with some form included in the summons(I think, it should tell you in the summons). Case closed. There's a certain date you have to fill in the form for. Just read the summons and it will tell you what to do.

monkeyfudge

skywalker wrote:

Out of interest what happens if your dismissed? Like is it just go home & head into work the next day, or do you still get the week off?

You have to show up each day as you might get picked for another case.

I got called up to the Four Courts about 2 years ago... it was a total waste of time. On the first day the case was settled out of court and with the case the next day they felt it would take at least 3 days, but the judge was playing golf that weekend and wanted to get away early on the Friday, so the whole thing was put off for another time... this was the third time the case had been postponed.

I didn't actually get to see a case in action... Do they still do the bible thing? That seems a little bit outdated.

i71jskz5xu42pb

andrew1977 wrote:

i got called last year to do jury service,didnt fancy doing it, got a letter from my boss in work saying i was unable to attend due to busy time in work and people on holidays etc i was needed to cover the workload
it wasnt a busy time in work at all but saved me the bother of jury service

Leona Helmsley, is that you? Only the little people do jury duty, not special people like you, right?. God forbid you'd have to make some sort of useful contribution to society (especially if you didn’t fancy it). You're better off freeloading.

pontovic wrote:

do you get paid for dury duty ?

Paid by your employer, not by the government (although they provide lunch when you are on a jury)

joe_chicken wrote:

Both the defendent and the accused get to dismiss jurors... its really hard to tell who's gonna get dismissed

Yeah, I think it's 7 without cause (aka they just don't like the look of you) and any number with reasonable cause (i.e. you know the defendant). Apparently there are profiles i.e. for a crime involving violence the defence tend to go for young men as opposed to old people.

Wertz

I got called last november for circuit court....turned up (unlike a lot on the list) got picked and got objected to by the DPP (like I knew I would be)...the judge tells everyone not to take it personally if you're objected to, that in most cases it's just on a demographic....but I still felt hard done by. Got paid for my day's work, even though I was done and home by 11am :v:

Jury duty is a vital part of the justice system in this country....people not turning up cos it doesn't suit them or whatever sh*tty excuse deserve harsh treatment.

John R

PaschalNee wrote:

Leona Helmsley, is that you? Only the little people do jury duty, not special people like you, right?. God forbid you'd have to make some sort of useful contribution to society (especially if you didn’t fancy it). You're better off freeloading.

A pretty common attitude among a large amount of the population. About half of those called that presumably don't qualify for exemption don't turn up at all, all they get is a small fine. (€100-200 AFAIK)

PaschalNee wrote:

Yeah, I think it's 7 without cause (aka they just don't like the look of you) and any number with reasonable cause (i.e. you know the defendant). Apparently there are profiles i.e. for a crime involving violence the defence tend to go for young men as opposed to old people.

When I was called to the criminal court a while ago it was pretty obvious how they were dismissing jurors. There were three cases; A murder, the kid in the Midlands that was killed over a mobile phone. The defendant was a right scumbag, he turned up in a tracksuit FFS. The defence counsel got rid of all the jurors who were smartly dressed and the prosecution got rid of a few scangers.

The second case was a rape with an African defendant. The defence dismissed all the young women but seemed fine with an old biddy, the prosecution got rid of a few young men but waited until the defence had used all their choices up and dismissed a few more so they could get two women on. The defence then tried to get them dismissed for cause with the judge but failed.

The third case was a knife assault, pretty sure it was a domestic violence case as the defendant and victim had the same surname. Defence again didn't want women on the jury, didn't notice any other obvious pattern with the selection.

I didn't get called so half a day crushed in the courtroom and that was it.

deisemum

Santa Claus wrote:

Does anyone know if you have an immediate member of your family who's a garda can you still get called ? (I mean you'd obviously be more likely to not question any evidence given by a garda)

If you're on the electoral registar then you can be called. I'm fairly sure if you have a member of your immediate family you can be excused. When I got called I wrote back that I was a childminder for a Gardai and I was excused. Just as well because it was for a well known drug case that ended up with the first jury let go and another one selected in the middle of the case

projectmayhem

got a summons in january myself. sent back the form saying i have exams coming up and can't attend, got an excusal. 1 week later (exactly 7 days) my dad got a summons. he read the thing properly. turns out students are exempt from jury duty.

you'd think they'd have some sort of computer to check if we're students or not

is_that_so

I know of at least two people who have been called more than once. What have they got against the rest of us?

Samanthawho

Hi, does anybody know what way Jury duty works, if you work shift. If i was to go to Jury duty in the morning and just say i was dismissed at 11, would i then have to go to work and complete a full 8 hour shift?

My job opens till 12am, so if i was rostered 16.00/12.00, would i have to do both jury duty and my full shift?

SV

Samanthawho wrote: »

Hi, does anybody know what way Jury duty works, if you work shift. If i was to go to Jury duty in the morning and just say i was dismissed at 11, would i then have to go to work and complete a full 8 hour shift?

My job opens till 12am, so if i was rostered 16.00/12.00, would i have to do both jury duty and my full shift?

Why wouldn't you?

ScumLord

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I didn't actually get to see a case in action... Do they still do the bible thing? That seems a little bit outdated.

In the UK courts you can choose between the bible or affirm, I think they called it. You just promise to tell the truth.

It seems a bit strange though. There could be members of the Jury that would make a mental tick in the guilty box for not swearing on the bible.

Samanthawho

Yeah ok, so stupid question, but would it be fair for my boss to put me in all week 4-12 just so i can do the jury duty in the morning and go to work in the evening.

SV

Samanthawho wrote: »

Yeah ok, so stupid question, but would it be fair for my boss to put me in all week 4-12 just so i can do the jury duty in the morning and go to work in the evening.

Not fair no, but your boss could do that yeah.

Sonic_exyouth

ScumLord wrote: »

In the UK courts you can choose between the bible or affirm, I think they called it. You just promise to tell the truth.

It seems a bit strange though. There could be members of the Jury that would make a mental tick in the guilty box for not swearing on the bible.

Yeah, same here.

Just got back from Jury non-service.

Have to go every day til Thursday, or til I'm picked .
Joy!

Big_Daddy

My job is also shift work which can span over 7 days. If i was selected to be on a jury, and i was rostered off just say Thursday and Sunday. What would I be entitled too, cause technically i would only have one day off, as i would be doing jury service mon-fri and working Saturday? Would i have to work Sunday also?

craftypaddy

i got called for jury service today is there any expenses paid while doing jury service, i only work part time now and cork circuit court is about 30 miles away and parking will be expensive.

ChemOC

With great power comes great responsibility, quote that to them and then do the Dr. Zoidberg walk! Woa Woa!!!!