Jury Duty

bug

I just got called for Jury Duty and I'm fairly dubious, chances are considering the area I come from I'll probably know the person getting charged. Has anyone done jury duty before? What's the process and what sort of crimes does the central criminal court deal with

Lpfsox

Hi Bug

First of all, don't worry about it. When you go along on the first day, there will be hundreds of potential jurors and a roll-call will be taken. Then, if there are no jurors required that day, you will be dismissed.

When you go back (or if jurors are required that day), a selection will be called by their juror number. These are then brought into the court where they are called one by one up to the jury box. The Judge will give some information about the defendent, the crime and other circumstances. If you know anything about any of these matters, you can be excused from duty. Even if you don't, the counsel for the defence may "challenge" you, or ask that you not serve on the jury. This is in no way personal and if you are challenged, the Judge will dismiss you and ask that you either go back to the jury area or come back the next day.

Hope this helps

GuanYin

If you are a student or work in certain occupations you are exempt from Jury Duty, so if you don't want to do it, check that out.

Otherwise, you have to go through a Jury selection process before you actually sit on a Jury, so if you know a defendant or plantiff you will be exempt.

Spacedog

Guilty!

de5p0i1er

jsut look as evil as possible and you'll freak out the counsel and he'll challenge you.

KdjaCL

Say you are prejudiced against all minorities (irish included).
Proclaim that you are the 2nd coming only this time your evil.
Demand the electric chair for everyone.


Should make sure your never selected again.
Oh also you get full pay whilist on jury duty so if your selected try get a case thats gonna go on for ages


kdjac

RasTa

i done it this year,only 19 and it was good fun
the suspect had suposedly robbed a bank but the stupid police had hardly any evidence against him so we let him go
anyway yea,you'll be required to go for 2 weeks until u get picked,u might not even get picked at all but u will still be required to show up,i got picked on my 2nd day and they estimate how long the case will last,ours was 5 days
also at 1 everyday they bring you off for a 3 course meal , shame they brought us to wynns hotel one day and i was throwing up all night and into court the next morning

DadaKopf

I'm sorry but I don't like when people joke about Jury Duty like it's not important. Don't forget, what you receive is a Jury Summons, which means it's your legal duty to do it unless you have a legitimate excuse. I really can't believe the first thing people think of when they get a summons is how to get out of it.

We moan enough that our politicians are crap. We moan about not being able to change things. I can't imagine a more meaningful way of contributing to Irish society than playing a part in our justice system. That's how I felt when I walked out of the Four Courts after two weeks to deliberate in a murder trial.

People moan about Irish people not feeling any kind of civic responsibility then they come along and think up excuses to ditch doing it themselves (I'm not accusing the original poster of this).

Doing jury duty is great. You get to ditch work, sit in a chair for four hours a day with a break at one for lunch and if you're lucky, you get to stay in a nice hotel for however long it takes you to decide on the case (you can even get plastered on state sponsored booze). If that isn't a nice way of serving your nation, I don't know what is.

If you get called up you'll probably get either a sexual assault, murder, manslaughter or libel case. Most are fun, I was lucky I didn't get some rape case.

Oh, and if you get made foreman, that's the cherry on the cake. [Plus there's the possibility of a cute fellow juror )

Pigman II

Originally posted by DadaKopf
I'm sorry but I don't like when people joke

So 'we' have the wrong attitude about Jury Duty...

Originally posted by DadaKopf
you'll probably get either a sexual assault, murder, manslaughter or libel case. ...

Originally posted by DadaKopf
...Most are fun,

...whereas you have the right one?

ciano

I was on jury duty a couple of years ago. It was a fairly interesting for the first couple of days. Seeing how a trail is conducted etc. But after that, it got very boring. Luckily I didnt have to do anything in the end cause the defendant pleaded guilty!

Originally posted by DadaKopf
Plus there's the possibility of a cute fellow juror

Definitely not in my case. They were mostly old women!

bug

I'm sorry but I don't like when people joke about Jury Duty like it's not important. Don't forget, what you receive is a Jury Summons, which means it's your legal duty to do it unless you have a legitimate excuse. I really can't believe the first thing people think of when they get a summons is how to get out of it.

Dadakopf, stop yer winging:) I was just asking about what happens at jury service,thats all!!!- the title of the thread was not- People avoiding jury service. Why are people always looking to give out about something:rolleyes:

Thanks all for the info.

highlight

I've been called three times - the first twice I was a full time student and hence was excused. The last time, I was working and I did really see it as part of my civic duty so went along. The picking itself was quite well organised- but completely different to how I thought, my previous experience being trials on tv! The barristers don't ask any questions simply excuse or accept you. Suspects and jury members alike mingle outside, on my first day one of the murder suspects approached me for a chat. It was luckily simply a chat although I must admit to running up the quays back to work.

When I was picked for a case, it was a rape case and it was very harrowing. Without going into details, we had to spend a lot of time in the jury room whilst they were deciding whether we could hear some elements of it. It was a boiling May day and we had no facilities - no water, ancient kettle. I thought we were very badly treated. Lunch was slop in the Wellington. What was fun however was staying over in the hotel, and one of the heaviest nights drinking I'd ever experienced. And yeah, there was a cute fellow juror!

What I thought was funny though that the rooms in the hotel had their fixed phones removed - don't they know everyone has mobiles these days!

Asuka

The jury has reached the verdict that DadaKopf is guilty of being anally retentive, and herreby sentances him to a life of public ridicule.

Court dismissed.

A

mooman_00

i object on the grounds of ones right to free speech....

Beruthiel

Has anyone done jury duty before?

I did a murder case two years back, got thrown out of court, lack of evidence

a lot of people are called at the same time, your name is picked out of a hat and asigned to the next case on the list.
you are brought to lunch in the back of a paddy wagon.

TomTom

Another way to get out of it is say that you work for or are a close personal friend of a civil servent. If you say you are a friend of a cabinet minister you are automaticly excused. I don't know why, I just know that my neighbour did it before.

DapperGent

I don't know if that works, I'm a civil servant and plenty of people in my workplace have done jury duty.

I don't know how knowing a Minister should excuse you unless if it was maybe the Minister of Justice.

Calibos

Our shop was held up at gunpoint and myself and the 'oul' lad were giving evidence at the trial. I knew one of the jurors! I used to work with her. Was I that forgettable!!:D She kept stumm and so did I. The f*cker got off needless to say and has since got off on a manslaughter charge for drunkenly kicking the crap out of one of his 'mates' who died from his injuries. He is also a suspect in the murder of another local scumbag arising from a fued. Had he been inside after our case those 2 other blokes would be alive today.:rolleyes: I did however have the satisfaction in knowing that a had given him some belt between the shoulder blades when I swung my 16lb bowling ball I had in its bag at my feet!!:ninja: :ninja:

As for doing jury duty myself, I would be exempt because anyone who looks remotely like a skanger would get a guilty verdict from me. ie if they're not guilty of this then I'm sure they've gotten away with something in the past or will get away with something in the future. Pre-emptive jail-time I call it!:D I'd only be objective and unbiased if it was a white-collar crime.:D

DMC

Oasis.gov.ie is your friend All questions are answered there.

I did it once, was called for 3 days, but not picked to the trial. If I was, it wouldve been either a case of 2 farmers who "destroyed" an insurance rep's car, or another lad who was caught selling ecstasy in Mosney. I would've enjoyed both cases.

The longest jury trial ended last Sunday, this from RTÉ News...

A Chinese man has been found guilty of the murder of two Chinese students in Dublin two years ago, after the longest trial in Irish legal history.

Yu Jie (25) with an address at McKee Avenue in Finglas, was found guilty of the murder of 19-year-olds Mr Yue Feng and Ms Liu Qing in their rented flat in Dublin's North inner city in March 2001.

The court heard he strangled the couple and returned to the apartment the following night to set fire to the bodies. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

This was the 60th day of the trial. The jury of five men and six women had been deliberating since Friday evening.

One of the jurors was crying as they delivered their unanimous verdict.

During the trial one of the jurors passed away and two of then jurors had become ill.

All 11 were excused form further jury service for the rest of their lives.

Last night the jury had spent a second night at a Dublin hotel after retiring at 4pm on Friday to consider their verdict.

rubadub

Originally posted by DadaKopf
I really can't believe the first thing people think of when they get a summons is how to get out of it.

Doing jury duty is great. You get to ditch work, sit in a chair for four hours a day with a break at one for lunch and if you're lucky, you get to stay in a nice hotel for however long it takes you to decide on the case (you can even get plastered on state sponsored booze). If that isn't a nice way of serving your nation, I don't know what is.

you talk about civic duty and you dont care about your own employer "ditch work"

do they pay jurors over here? is it the same as their normal wage. or is it there employer who pays?

another way to get out is to ask for the name of the garda who arrested the accused and ask if he is the same garda who beat up an innocent woman a few months back, or if he is the child molesting garda from a few months back.

also question if the accused is a brit, ******, jew or refugee ;-)

DMC

The employer must pay for those on Jury service.

KdjaCL

But the employer is reimbursed by Goverment so they aint really paying you.

kdjac

amen

i'm nearly sure that your employer does NOT have to pay you for attending jury service although most will.

The only onus on your employer is to let you attend court.

You do not have to use holidays or anything else.

DMC

Again, from Oasis.gov.ie


There is no payment for jury service. Travelling expenses are not allowed. If you are actually serving as a juror, lunch will be provided on the day or days that the trial is at hearing.

If you are in employment, the Juries Act 1976 (Section 29) places a duty on your employer to allow you attend for jury service. It is further specified in the law that time spent on jury service is to be treated as if the employee were actually employed. In other words, if you are in employment and are attending for jury service, you are entitled to be paid while you are away from work. Anyone with a contract of employment (i.e., temporary workers, contract workers, etc.) is entitled to be paid by their employer while they are on jury service. There should also be no loss of any other employment rights while you serve on a jury. The Jury office will provide a certificate of attendance on request.


The government does not reemburse the employer.

rubadub

i wonder if many companies had to shut down due to forced payment of a employee who is a juror. seems very unfair. imagine if the MD of bank of ireland got called up and was away for 6 months. or if were a 3 person company.

also on the food thing. can you demand specific food? what if you refuse to eat in a resturaunt for whatever reason, hygeine etc? strictly fillet steak and champagne for myself, doctors orders

artvandelay

"the trick is to say ur your prejudice to all races"

hussey

Originally posted by rubadub
i wonder if many companies had to shut down due to forced payment of a employee who is a juror. seems very unfair. imagine if the MD of bank of ireland got called up and was away for 6 months. or if were a 3 person company.

also on the food thing. can you demand specific food? what if you refuse to eat in a resturaunt for whatever reason, hygeine etc? strictly fillet steak and champagne for myself, doctors orders

alot of time company directors would be allowed not do it .. if they ring up and say I am a company director etc..

my boss said he rang up and said he was director of a small firm .. and he was allowed off.

and a girl here rand up and said it was her marriage anniversary on the day after the jury duty starts and she was planning a surprise trip for her hubby (he rang up on behalf of the hubby) and he was allowed off

Praetorian

I would do it if I was called. 21 year olds dont get called though!

My father has been called 3 times. He just contacts them and explains he is a company director and his company cannot do without him. They don't ask for proof or anything.

hussey

I is up on jury duty on may 12th!!

Freddy Quimby is walking out of here a free hotel

Lump

According to the company I work for, Ard Services Ltd, "If an employee is requested to do jury service, this is a legal obligation. Jurors will recieve fullpay, providing a J/4 Certificate of attendance is forwarded to your Manager. Employees are expected to return to work in not placed on a jury." Taken from well my contract.


John

rubadub

can jurors choose their food. like what if they are vegans and the resturant has no vegan food?