Jury service

A friend of friend daughter age 13 was raped , with DNA they caught the person whom did it , a known rapist , the court case was couple weeks ago, the rapist got a not guilty verdict , all the lawyers was all shocked by the verdict , when the judge summon up , he told the jury , if ever they on jury service again , he told then to listen, pay attention and not in a rush to get home , the rapist wasn't release as he was re arrested for rape and murder , the police told the mum of the daughter who daughter was raped , that she very luckily he didn't kill her , they said he really dangerous to woman .

Re: Jury service

It was a shame the jury couldn't see him for what he was,i wonder if he was giving them threatening glances,enough to put the fear in them to come up with. The Not Guilty verdict.

Re: Jury service

I did jury service a couple of weeks ago, and one case we had was for assault causing ABH, and dangerous driving causing GBH. We found the defendant guilty on both counts, in spite of his family in the public gallery trying to intimidate us all through the evidence. Quite a scary situation, but hopefully we've done the right thing.

Re: Jury service

Your very brave Deb to go through that....

Re: Jury service

thanks. The worst bit was that I was jury foreman, so it was me who had to stand up and tell the court that we'd found the guy guilty - twice. He'll be sentenced next month, and the judge told him he can "expect a custodial sentence".

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Ive never done jury service but OH has ..He said it scared him to think about the people who sat there with him.. Some said the person must be guilty because the police had arrested him and one woman said she thought they should let him go because 'hes got such a sweet face'

I think its disgusting about that poor girl getting raped and the bloke getting off ..I hope those people are ashamed of themselves.

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I did jury service many years ago. What you see on TV is nothing like the real thing, it is like moving into another realm. The procedures points raised, the way the barristers question those giving evidence is an eye opener. A simple, or what seems a simple question a bit later on can easily trip up those being questioned. it is done in such a way there is no hint of a trap being laid to disprove a witness.

I sat on three cases in the two weeks I was called and I found I had to really concentrate on what was being said.

An interesting experience but one I would not like to do again.

A work colleague was called when the Marchioness pleasure boat was rammed and sunk and many lives were lost on the Thames.
He was required to attend court for 6 months only for the case to be dropped at that point , something to do with corporate manslaughter charges replacing the charges he was hearing.

The main thing is you don't know if the defendant has any previous convictions as it could prejudice the case in question.

it is not until a guilty verdict is given do you get to know

Re: Jury service

Having been a juror and also the jury foreman on both the trials I was on
in the fortnight. I must say that I organised the others so that what he
looked like and what they thought should not be the verdict before talking about it was disregarded and we stuck to the evidence.
From what has been said then the poor girl didn't have enough good
evidence to get the guilty verdict. I can imagine as the child was only 13
and naïve then probably that was the trouble. Even so, although you
think that the person is guilty you cant say yes he or she is if the evidence
doesn't go with it. In a rape case the only way it is rape most of the time, is if the victim can say the man had a erection if she didn't or doesn't say that it isn't rape as such because it could have been his fingers. If they are knocked out then that doesn't always apply. So sorry for horrible details but seen it happen that way. Really hard to be a juror and you have to write down as much as you can if you are the foreman so that others cant say what they thought when you have it written down and say Oh no they didn't say that.
Plus threats from the audience who are probably related to the accused.
That's true too, that's why they ask before they put you on the jury whether or not you know that person. Was about 48 when I was on my jury so hope now at my age they have forgotten about me as its gone up now from 70 to 75.