Jury Duty, Inside Knowledge of The Case

Here's a situation that happened to me a few years back. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts or ever found themselves in a similar situation, regardless of what side of the law they were on.

Got a summons for jury. I turn up at 9.00AM as instructed, absolute bedlam in the courthouse of course, huge crowd with no one having any idea where to go or what to do, but that's another story.

So the case is introduced, it was an arson attack, but before the jury selection there is a short break. I was still a smoker back then, so I nip out for a fag. Meanwhile literally ten feet in front of me I see a conversation between the accused, his mother, and a member of their defence counsel (I assume their barrister, though that's not important).

Now, I'm not trying to deliberately eavesdrop, but the fact is your man's standing right in front of me and there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop myself from hearing what comes next. You might say I could have left the area but it happened so fast I'd already heard the conversation before that would have been possible, and anyway you can't "unhear" something after the fact.

Basically the barrister, addressing the mother, says we both know your son is guilty, please talk a bit of sense into him and get him to plead, the court will be more lenient if he stops wasting their time. Mother replies she knows this and has tried, the son is simply belligerent over a long term grudge and won't give the victim the satisfaction.

We return to the courtroom. I wasn't selected to sit on this jury, but what if I was? There was about 50 or 60 candidates there, names were drawn at random, and I remember one or two were able to excuse themselves by saying "the arresting guard is known to me". The judge would look at the guard who then confirms this, and so the next name is drawn. I on the other hand had no personal acquaintance with anyone involved.

That was my first and only time in a courtroom so I have no real experience of how these things are supposed to go down. What could or should I do in the situation were I to be selected? How could I excuse myself for not being impartial without either forcing a mistrial or the other jurors to be dismissed?

Shocking incident btw, imagine this happening to someone who genuinely turns out to be innocent for example.

seamus

I guess you would say to the judge exactly what you have just said here - "I overheard the defendant and his solicitor discussing their strategy outside, so I believe I can no longer be impartial".

Whether this would force a retrial or a dismissal of the jury, is not your concern.

Victor

seamus wrote: »

Whether this would force a retrial or a dismissal of the jury, is not your concern.

Jury hadn't been selected, so it would simply be a matter of moving on to the next potential juror.

KWAG2019

seamus wrote: »

I guess you would say to the judge exactly what you have just said here - "I overheard the defendant and his solicitor discussing their strategy outside, so I believe I can no longer be impartial".

Whether this would force a retrial or a dismissal of the jury, is not your concern.

For the win: I overheard the solicitor say his client was guilty and should plead so. His mother said he wouldn’t because he had a grudge against someone”.

Mind you Mr Zip might try to give you a little singe.

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