Jury duty question.

mizzA

Not sure if this is the right place for this but i have recently been sworn into a jury just a week before my birthday..after i was sworn in i found out my partner had bought flights to take me away for a few days as a surprise.he is quite upset and it's put a good bit of strain on our relationship as the plans he made are not cheap.is there anything i can do?i had no knowledge of the plans or i would have told the judge.

LowKeyReturn

I'm curious as to how you got to this stage without letting said partner know this was 'cropping up'.

mizzA

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

I'm curious as to how you got to this stage without letting said partner know this was 'cropping up'.

I did tell him.i was just as angry that he hadn't told me..he obviously didn't think i would got picked.

Slyderx1

The Judge may have some sympathy for you ..not a lot mind.....if he has sworn in 'spare jurors' then you have a chance.
But strictly speaking barring hospitalisation or a doctors letter you are snookered.

coylemj

If the trial hasn't already started then you could try explaining it to the judge and they might pick someone from the panel to replace you, otherwise you're stuck. I don't think they empanel 'spare' jurors in Ireland, certainly not in bread & butter cases where the jury is only expected to sit for a few days max.

Pat Mustard

Threads on getting out of jury duty.

http://www.politics.ie/forum/justice/188478-jury-duty-9.html

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055057886

Also, to quote JohnnySkeleton in the boards.ie thread above:

Personal Difficulty
In addition, if there are personal issues - serious illness, birth of child, prebooked wedding planned, holidays booked, bereavement, etc - and you can back this up with documentation you will probably be excused (but it is not certain so try to communicate with the court in advance that you will not be present)

LowKeyReturn

The Mustard wrote: »

Threads on getting out of jury duty.

http://www.politics.ie/forum/justice/188478-jury-duty-9.html

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055057886

Also, to quote JohnnySkeleton in the boards.ie thread above:

I think the issue is the stage it's got too.

Slyderx1

coylemj wrote: »

If the trial hasn't already started then you could try explaining it to the judge and they might pick someone from the panel to replace you, otherwise you're stuck. I don't think they empanel 'spare' jurors in Ireland, certainly not in bread & butter cases where the jury is only expected to sit for a few days max.

saw it done recently..think it was in the Central...juries can limp along minus one sworn juror but nobody is happy. The panel is discharged after the jury is sworn so if say two jurors fell by the wayside the whole process of jury selection would have to recommence.

coylemj

Slyderx1 wrote: »

saw it done recently..think it was in the Central...juries can limp along minus one sworn juror but nobody is happy. The panel is discharged after the jury is sworn so if say two jurors fell by the wayside the whole process of jury selection would have to recommence.

Actually they can get by with two drop-outs, I was on a jury once and on the second day of the trial one of the jurors phoned in sick and sent in a doctor's cert. The judge was not amused and the registrar actually phoned the doctor to pass on the judge's displeasure, presumably to put down a marker for that doctor in the future. The jury was sent out while the judge and the lawyers discussed what do to and when we were called back we were told that the trial would proceed. In the course of the judge telling us they were going ahead, he told us that we could deliver a verdict with only ten sitting jurors.

An actual verdict requires agreement among at least ten jurors regardless of whether there is 10, 11 or 12 sitting jurors. So if there is one fallout, you need 10-1 or 11-0 for a verdict and if there is only ten, you need an unanimous verdict. The standard charge to the jury says that the judge wants a unanimous verdict but after I think three hours deliberation they call back the jury and tell them they will accept a majority with at least 10 votes in favour of a verdict one way or the other.

Our trial was relatively short (3-4 days) but I'd expect that in the case of a trial expected to last a few weeks, they'd throw in the towel if they lost even one juror very early into the case.

Can any of the legal eagles advise us if they use spare jurors in Ireland as they do in some trials in the US? I know there's only seats for 12 but I suppose they could allow a few spares to sit behind the lawyers if there is such a practice here.

LowKeyReturn

coylemj wrote: »

Can any of the legal eagles advise us if they use spare jurors in Ireland as they do in some trials in the US? I know there's only seats for 12 but I suppose they could allow a few spares to sit behind the lawyers if there is such a practice here.

Not a legal eagle as you know - I'd use that term to describe you tbh Coylemj!

I thought the recent report recommended the use of spare jurors? That would lead me to believe they don't currently. However my normal disclaimer ref being wrong more often than I'm right applies.

3DataModem

Your travel insurance almost certainly covers you.

You do have travel insurance, don't you?

johnnyskeleton

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

Not a legal eagle as you know - I'd use that term to describe you tbh Coylemj!

I thought the recent report recommended the use of spare jurors? That would lead me to believe they don't currently. However my normal disclaimer ref being wrong more often than I'm right applies.

Yep, there is no provision for it in Irish law. I don't really see how it could work - do the standby jurors sit with the jury? While the jury don't start discussing a verdict until they are sent into their room by the judge, they might have discussed the evidence on an ongoing basis with the other jurors. Maybe I'm over thinking it though.

@theMustard, Jesus those old threads sure hang around.

dubmum1

I did jury duty in the central criminal court and we were assigned a minder(not sure what the correct name is) who would escort us to and from the court room and let us know what times we had to be in at and was there to answer any questions we had etc. If you have been introduced to your minder then he/she would probably be your best bet in finding out if you can get out of doing it. Hope this helps :-)

Victor

Have you been told how long to expect the trial to go on?

3DataModem wrote: »

Your travel insurance almost certainly covers you.

Possibly not for pre-contemplated events.