Surely that's where clarification, and guidance from the judge on terms like 'beyond reasonable doubt' come in.
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Jury Service
- Thread starter Rugrat
- Start date
Surely that's where clarification, and guidance from the judge on terms like 'beyond reasonable doubt' come in.
When I did it the first impressions of the majority of the Jury were that the first defendant 'looked unlikely to have done it' - was found guilty, and the second, who was a proper scumbag (in the dock in prison clothes - already jailed for something completely different) was 'obviously guilty' - was innocent.
The first case was very difficult - one word against another mainly, but the second should never had been brought to court, laughable evidence including from the Police and witnesses. It was particularly amusing listening to the very posh well spoken female prosecution counsel reading out the transcripts of the interviews with the lowlife defendant. I doubt she has heard the c-word that many times in her life, let alone had to read it aloud that many times in 30 minutes. Even the judge was smirking at one point.
The first case was very difficult - one word against another mainly, but the second should never had been brought to court, laughable evidence including from the Police and witnesses. It was particularly amusing listening to the very posh well spoken female prosecution counsel reading out the transcripts of the interviews with the lowlife defendant. I doubt she has heard the c-word that many times in her life, let alone had to read it aloud that many times in 30 minutes. Even the judge was smirking at one point.
fat old seagull
New member
I did buy a round, you must have missed it! And though you found me guilty...I was innocent!
Mmmm actually I made all of that up !
Crispy Ambulance
Well-known member
Did it as an 18 year old in the early 80's. Was desperately hoping for a major Scandinavian porn import/export case where we would have had to spend weeks sifting through the exhibits, but ended up with a domestic! Which wasn't quite the same!
METALMICKY
Well-known member
- Jan 30, 2004
- 6,091
Did my two weeks at Lewes about two years back. As people have said there can be a lot of sitting around and a bit stop start and it can all be about whether your name comes out of the hat.
First week was a rather mundane assault case that really should never have reached court and we found not guilty in double quick time. Felt sorry for the prosecution as within 5 mins of the trial the judge picked up upon a fact that basically exposed it all as malicious rubbish. In short " hell hath no fury than a woman scorned ".
Second week was far more interesting as was a rape case. Again we found not guilty but the whole process was thoroughly absorbing and you really felt you had done your duty. My abiding and sobering thought though was that a lot of men need to be careful lest they find themselves on the the wrong end of a rape charge since what constitutes consent can very tricky.
First week was a rather mundane assault case that really should never have reached court and we found not guilty in double quick time. Felt sorry for the prosecution as within 5 mins of the trial the judge picked up upon a fact that basically exposed it all as malicious rubbish. In short " hell hath no fury than a woman scorned ".
Second week was far more interesting as was a rape case. Again we found not guilty but the whole process was thoroughly absorbing and you really felt you had done your duty. My abiding and sobering thought though was that a lot of men need to be careful lest they find themselves on the the wrong end of a rape charge since what constitutes consent can very tricky.