have you ever done jury duty in Ireland?

cjbh

have you ever done jury duty in Ireland?

if you have, please tell us about it (even if it's boring)

Overheal

Is there a point to this question

Highsider

Overheal wrote: »

Is there a point to this question

I'd think it's to see what kind of percentage of people in Ireland have done jury duty. Complex is'nt it

jimmycrackcorm

cjbh wrote: »

have you ever done jury duty in Ireland?

Why yes, and you were found guilty regardless.

Vain

Yes. I flipped a coin they ended up guilty.

Captain-America

The trick is to tell them you're prejudice against all races.

Overheal

Captain-America wrote: »

The trick is to tell them you're prejudice against all races.

Thats absurd, I love gooks.

Mmcd

Captain-America wrote: »

The trick is to tell them you're prejudice against all races.

Awful lot of honkies in here!

Captain-America

I resent that.

markok84

Captain-America wrote: »

The trick is to tell them you're prejudice against all races.

Beat me to it!!

minidazzler

I got to put a guy away for 8 years when there was feck all evidence, but he was from Ballymun so he was probably guilty anyway.

VinnyTGM

Nope, would like to though.

nyarlothothep

its not so bad if you bring a book

Biggins

Yes. a number of times.

Mostly cases involving deaths by car/bike/van accident.

javaboy

Overheal wrote: »

Thats absurd, I love gooks.

People have been banned for less. Cop on.

KerranJast

I've never met or heard of anyone who has been called on. They seem to pick people from the cities so they'll be close to court.

artvandulet

I got called. spent 3 days in a basemet room at the back of the 4 courts watching different courtrooms on the monitors. first we were all assigned a number.
you had to go in each morning, and whatever trial needed a jury that day, they'd call out jury numbers while we watched that courtroom relayed on tv's around the room. then the solicitors either accepted or rejected them until they had their jury for that trial. i think prosecution and defence can reject up to 7 people.
Anyway, my number never got called and was out by 12 at the latest each day.

Not very exciting. suppose it would be ifyou got picked....or rejected for that matter!

Wurly

I did Jury duty this time last year. It was shyte boring. I wasn't picked for any of the trials so just sat in the waiting room til 1 every day. We were sent home after that.

Zebra3

cjbh wrote: »

if you have, please tell us about it (even if it's boring)

I don't think you should be inciting people to break the law. :rolleyes:

Nehaxak

minidazzler wrote: »

I got to put a guy away for 8 years when there was feck all evidence, but he was from Ballymun so he was probably guilty anyway.

I shot Michael Collins.

Super-Rush

I'm sure there was a thread about this not so long ago but i have been known to be drunk wrong

Roxanne

I haven't been but would love to be called - purely cause I'm a nosey bast*d and I love a bit of scandal - but alas because I have worked in a legal office so am banned from sitting on a jury panel. Stupid job.

sdanseo

My Mam did...sounded like the most boring week imaginable, would be fine if you got to watch cases as you waited but obviously you cant. Wouldn't mind being actually called to a jury myself though, for the experience.

Roxanne wrote: »

I haven't been but would love to be called - purely cause I'm a nosey bast*d and I love a bit of scandal - but alas because I have worked in a legal office so am banned from sitting on a jury panel. Stupid job.

Bull**** rule, more like. I presume it's there partly in case you've come accross the accused, in which case it could be dealt with as per if you knew them. Also, having a superior knowledge of the law shouldn't mean you're no longer regarded as a peer to Joe public, you have no extra authority. If anything it would enable you to make a fairer decision.

cryano

I got called on and assault and robbery case. Was interesting except for the first 2 days were just witness statements of the incident, the same story form about 10 different people. Go free dinner for a week which was good.

I main complaint was we court finished I had to walk out the main entrance of the court house past all the defendant scumbag clondalkin family eying me up. Think they should have a separate exit for the jury. Anyone could have followed me.

If you want to get out if it do a Peter Griffin and play raciest saying "Awful lot of honkies in here":p

DrumSteve

I did it for a famous trial recently... but paul carney told everyone before the trial that if anyone talked about anything at all they heard in there he'd personally come around and beat the living **** outta them.

DrIndy

I'm exempt - think it would be boring - imagine a financial case!

kenco

Yep back in the early 09s. I was unemployed at the time so was glad at first that I got selected to be on a jury!

Then it turned out to be a date rape case

Lets us say my eyes were opened about jury selection and how difficult it is to get convictions in this country

kelle

I've been called twice, but was exempted the first time because I'm an allied health professional . And second time because I was breastfeeding!

Faith

I did a murder trial last summer, except the guy changed his plea to guilty on day 3 before it was even really underway and that was that. I'm exempt for 10 years now though.

kiffer

I was on a jury for a murder trial which lasted about two weeks... After that I got a letter exempting me from selection again for 12 years. If I get selected after those 12 years are up I will do what ever I can to make sure I'm not selected again.

Imagine the most boring lectures you've ever sat through... Now realise that after those lectures you'll be basically asked whether or not a man should get a life sentence so you have to stay awake and pay attention.

It's not that boring at first but it's so repetitive.

I would do it again if I knew it would only be a day or two... Social duty blah blah blah.

IPushButtons

Do you even get paid to do jury duty ?

nyarlothothep

One of the few criticisms I would have with jury duty is the problem with reaching a fully objective verdict if one member of the panel influences the others to go along with a decision. You have 12 members on a panel to reach a statistically impartial result but if one person unduly influences the other 11 then the panel effectively reaches the decision as one individual.

javaboy

nyarlothothep wrote: »

One of the few criticisms I would have with jury duty is the problem with reaching a fully objective verdict if one member of the panel influences the others to go along with a decision. You have 12 members on a panel to reach a statistically impartial result but if one person unduly influences the other 11 then the panel effectively reaches the decision as one individual.

I'm not too fonda that idea myself.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

ArmaniJeanss

Did a 3 day trial once in the Circuit Court, a fairly minor assault outside a pub.

Found it rather interesting at times, hearing the same story told from 2 totally different points of view.

Got fed up with the continuous waiting around each day though, I reckoned there was only about 3 hours of actual court time each day.

I won't do it again, but would recommend anyone do it once just for the 'life experience'.

jill_valentine

I was, and I have a fairly serious issue with the jury system, or at least how it's worked in my neck of the woods.

I come from the hinterland of a mid-size town, so everybody pretty much knows each other. If they don't, there's still a good chance of finding each other should the need arise.

I was part of a panel that was being drawn into two juries, one for each of the two ongoing cases. I was rejected for the first jury, and served on the second, but what amazed me was how the first case was dealt with. The case related to the latest incident of a longstanding violent feud between two local traveller families. The events of the case had actually been sparked by the outcome of a previous trial, so this was an ongoing situation that everyone in the locality was aware of.

As we, the panel of potential jurors, were standing around waiting to see if we'd be called up, it became apparent that the four defendants and their families were standing right there with us, waiting for their own turn.

Incredibly, to my mind, each juror was then brought up in front of the courtroom and identified one by one, by name and address.

Not surprisingly, dozens of them cried off for "health reasons".

Pretty f*cktarded way of doing things, particularly for a case of that nature...

mikemac

Nope

Even though we have a district court, the nearest circut court is in the next county. (North Tipp/Offaly).
I've no doubt we have a circut court in North Tipp but I don't know where it sits.
So never been called and never likely to be unless there is some profile case.

As I understand from examples like the Nally case, nowadays they have cases in the county where it happened if possible

irish_goat

How is it you get chosen? Drawn at random from the electoral role is it? Like others I wouldn't mind doing it once for the experience.

Dingatron

Got called 3 times but I was out of the country for the first 2. The 3rd time I was picked 16th after the defence rejected a few jurors. Trial was an arson attack and I found it quite interesting.

The guy was 100% guilty but it still took us 3 hours deliberating because one of the jurors was watching too much CSI. :rolleyes: Even the court guard who was looking after us couldn't believe what took us so long to reach a decision in the end.

Do you even get paid to do jury duty ?

Nope although I did get a few nice meals courtesy of the tax payer.

mikemac

irish_goat wrote: »

How is it you get chosen? Drawn at random from the electoral role is it? Like others I wouldn't mind doing it once for the experience.

Pretty much.
Certain people are exempted

Good info here

Disqualification

The following persons are disqualified from jury service:

Those who have been convicted of a serious offence in Ireland.
Those who have ever been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five years or more.
Those who, within the last ten years, have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months.
People living in Ireland who are not Irish citizens.
Those who are excused as of right

The following persons may be excused as of right from jury service:

Persons between the ages of 65 and 70 years (From January 2009 those aged 65 or over).
Members of the either House of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament), members of the Council of State, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Clerks of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, a person in Holy Orders, a minister of any religious denomination or community, members of monasteries and convents, aircraft pilots, full-time students and ship's masters
Those who provide an important community service, such as practising doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, vets, chemists, etc.
The following persons if it is certified that their functions cannot reasonably be performed by another person or postponed; members of staff of either House of the Oireachtas, Heads of Government Departments, other civil servants, chief executive officers and employees of local authorities, Health Service Executive (HSE) Areas and harbour authorities, school teachers and university lecturers.
Those who have served on a jury within the last three years or who have been excused by a judge at the conclusion of a previous period of service for a period that has not ended.

eire-kp

I was called last october. The first 3 people got picked then some one gave some excuse and then every started giving some stupid excuses!
I dont think they got enough people to fill the jury in the end. It was an assault case in Sligo. To be honest i was glad i wasn't picked.

I attended jury service in the Coroner's Court though I guess that's not really the same thing. The first case was relatively straight-forward, death by misadventure. The second one was tough; it had previously been adjourned because the families wanted their barristers present, one of which was Michelle Smith-de Bruin. I don't want to go into the details out of respect for the family but one of the comments made by the defence solicitor really boiled my blood.

The case was a road traffic accident where a young girl was killed. We returned a verdict of accidental death but also had the option of declaring it an unlawful killing.

Gyalist

A good friend of mine was picked to serve on a jury a few years ago. It was a high-profile murder case but the trial had to be stopped when it emerged that her father was the main expert witness for the State.

netwhizkid

How do you get picked? Do you get a letter or do the Gardai come and tell you or what? Also do you get paid?

jill_valentine

You get a letter.

You don't get paid, but your employer is obliged to make allowances for your time, and you get your meals.

upmeath

I sat on a jury last November, sexual molestation case. The jury couldn't return the necessary verdict of 10:2, in either direction, so the case was thrown out.

steo87

javaboy wrote: »

I'm not too fonda that idea myself.

http://meow.catsplz.com/cats/pictures/234/I-see-what-you-did-there.jpg

anonymous_joe

Technically I'm not necessarily eligible, but the judge said I could if I wanted and I gave it a bash.

If you've an interest in law, it's interesting, or an interest in group dynamics.

What I learned from it was simple - I don't ever want trial by jury. People are morons! We found the guy guilty, but the reasons some people had for that were just bizarre. One woman didn't like the guy's barrister, and felt that his use of 'big words' was designed to confuse us. Ergo, his client had to be guilty. Another woman and one of the lads agreed that because the defendant wasn't wearing a suit he must think he's guilty - therefore he is. (Didn't quite fathom that one.)

People are so easily led in such an unfamiliar setting it's scary.

pwd

yet if a proper scary focker comes up who is blantantly, clearly guilty the same people will poop themselves and say innocent.

IvyTheTerrible

Karsini wrote: »

I attended jury service in the Coroner's Court though I guess that's not really the same thing. The first case was relatively straight-forward, death by misadventure. The second one was tough; it had previously been adjourned because the families wanted their barristers present, one of which was Michelle Smith-de Bruin. I don't want to go into the details out of respect for the family but one of the comments made by the defence solicitor really boiled my blood.

The case was a road traffic accident where a young girl was killed. We returned a verdict of accidental death but also had the option of declaring it an unlawful killing.

AFAIK you can't give details of a case in which you were a jurymember cos it's against the law.

GlindaGale

I did jury duty two years ago, got called for a trial on the first day for a very high profile case. It was exhausting to be honest and dragged out for weeks. It was difficult to be there and given the nature of the case, I had nightmares for months afterwards. It still gives me the shivers.