Jury Service: Things I Wish I'd Known

[theboke]

1) Indictment.

During deliberation, the jury may change the charge(s) against the accused in order to reflect the evidence that they can corroborate.  For example, a charge of assault that refers to the complainant being punched and repeatedly kicked can be reduced to the accused only punching the complainant - if there's no corroboration for the kick or for more than a single punch.

 

2) Special defence.

A document that the jury must consider during deliberation if they are minded to find the accused guilty of the charge; this is a further test/hurdlevthat asks the jury if the accused had a 'reasonable belief' that their actions were justifiable.

 

3) Corroboration.

The jury need only try to corroborate those key elements of the complainant's testimony that have given rise to the charge(s).  The accused's testimony, if given, is just another piece of evidence and does not need to be corroborated, as the accused is innocent until proven otherwise; where the 'may be taken down in evidence and used against you' line given out by the police becomes relevant is where the accused's statement may inadvertently corroborate the complainant's evidence against them.

 

4) Distress evidence.

Independent witness testimony that describes the immediate change in the complainant's mood or behaviour after a serious crime, which shows that something traumatic has occurred to them; it is for the jury to decide if this change in behaviour or mood is at least in part attributable to the events alleged to have taken place.

 

5) Corroboration beyond a reasonable doubt.

Blackstone's Ratio, said to be a foundation of liberal society, equates convicting 1 innocent person to allowing 10 guilty people to walk free.  A ratio of 10:1, so 10/11, or about 91% certainty is required by the jury in order to say that a crime is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  And 'not guilty' would be chosen by juries with at most 50% certainty that an accused did, on the balance of probabilities, commit the crime.  So leaving juries whi had a 51-90% certainty that the accused did commit the alleged crime (but without enough proof) the 'not proven' verdict.

 

However, the best qualitative definition of a 'reasonable doubt' that I found is the one that they use in the Canadian justice system, which is: 'a reservation that is logically derived from the evidence or lack of evidence.'

 

How about you??

[Richey Edwards]

I bought a suit out of Primark for jury service and wasn't even summoned to go in.

I enjoyed the few days off work though.

[Jacksgranda]

11 minutes ago, theboke said:

1) Indictment.

During deliberation, the jury may change the charge(s) against the accused in order to reflect the evidence that they can corroborate.  For example, a charge of assault that refers to the complainant being punched and repeatedly kicked can be reduced to the accused only punching the complainant - if there's no corroboration for the kick or for more than a single punch.

 

2) Special defence.

A document that the jury must consider during deliberation if they are minded to find the accused guilty of the charge; this is a further test/hurdlevthat asks the jury if the accused had a 'reasonable belief' that their actions were justifiable.

 

3) Corroboration.

The jury need only try to corroborate those key elements of the complainant's testimony that have given rise to the charge(s).  The accused's testimony, if given, is just another piece of evidence and does not need to be corroborated, as the accused is innocent until proven otherwise; where the 'may be taken down in evidence and used against you' line given out by the police becomes relevant is where the accused's statement may inadvertently corroborate the complainant's evidence against them.

 

4) Distress evidence.

Independent witness testimony that describes the immediate change in the complainant's mood or behaviour after a serious crime, which shows that something traumatic has occurred to them; it is for the jury to decide if this change in behaviour or mood is at least in part attributable to the events alleged to have taken place.

 

5) Corroboration beyond a reasonable doubt.

Blackstone's Ratio, said to be a foundation of liberal society, equates convicting 1 innocent person to allowing 10 guilty people to walk free.  A ratio of 10:1, so 10/11, or about 91% certainty is required by the jury in order to say that a crime is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  And 'not guilty' would be chosen by juries with at most 50% certainty that an accused did, on the balance of probabilities, commit the crime.  So leaving juries whi had a 51-90% certainty that the accused did commit the alleged crime (but without enough proof) the 'not proven' verdict.

 

However, the best qualitative definition of a 'reasonable doubt' that I found is the one that they use in the Canadian justice system, which is: 'a reservation that is logically derived from the evidence or lack of evidence.'

 

How about you??

Native peoples getting done over again.

[supermik]

Was on a jury once. Never got to give a verdict though, the 3 accused plea bargained the charges. The 2 victims were the next door neighbours of my mother in law. I didn’t know that at the time although if I did I would not have let on.

Would love to do it all again though as the whole process was fascinating.

[Michael W]

I had two cases whilst on jury service. 

The first I won't post in detail about because I still think about it from time to time, but in essence we were dealing with an alleged nonce. There were 4 charges against him and two of them were against his own daughter. 

Acquitted on all 4 counts. The charges concerning his daughter There was never a reasonable prospect of conviction from as the evidence was nowhere near strong enough, but the other two I was convinced of his guilt. Couldn't persuade enough fellow jurors and that was that. I thought the evidence was strong enough for conviction. 

One thing that really shocked me was the way that the female jurors ripped into the female witnesses in the case and their credibility. 

The second case was a man accused of possession of a knife in public whilst he'd nicked six bottles of moisturiser from Bodyshop in Slough. Even the judge had a little laugh about that. 

At any rate, we were only trying him on the knife as he denied this, but admitted the shoplifting (no corroboration in England). The shop assistant gave a very confident, certain interview of what had happened, and that he'd been in the store for around forty seconds. The defence played the CCTV and he was in and out in less than 7 seconds. Minter and her credibility shot to pieces. The prosecution barrister knew the case was fucked at that point and did her best, but the witness had sunk the case. I felt sorry for her. 

As no knife was ever recovered either, this was going to be a straightforward deliberation. We purposely padded it out for 1hr30 to kill time and increase our chances of a discharge as our two weeks' service only had two days left. It worked and we were discharged. The defendent is also possibly the dumbest man I've ever encountered - genuinely barely able to string half a sentence together. 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Michael W
Typos

[Arch Stanton]

 

[Arch Stanton]

Or

 

[Detournement]

I got a row for a reading a book during the selection.

[Jacksgranda]

3 minutes ago, Detournement said:

I got a row for a reading a book during the selection.

Should have locked you up and thrown away the key, imho.

[Shandon Par]

Had loads of summons but always send them a nice email saying I’d love to do my civic duty but I’m too busy, have a dog, wife, child, small business, mother at death’s door etc and couldn’t really give it my full attention. 

[Mark Connolly]

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, Richey Edwards said:

I bought a suit out of Primark for jury service 

 

That’s criminal.

[Left Back]

1 hour ago, Richey Edwards said:

I bought a suit out of Primark for jury service and wasn't even summoned to go in.

Shorts and t-shirt for this juror a few weeks ago.

[BigDoddyKane]

 

[supermik]

25 minutes ago, Detournement said:

I got a row for a reading a book during the selection.

Did the judge throw it at you?

[BFTD]

4 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Had loads of summons but always send them a nice email saying I’d love to do my civic duty but I’m too busy, have a dog, wife, child, small business, mother at death’s door etc and couldn’t really give it my full attention. 

Still to be asked to do jury duty, but I was summonsed half a dozen times as a witness in about eighteen months. Presumably the accused all admitted their guilt, as I've always eventually received a letter telling me I'm no longer required. Or they just thought I looked dodgy as f**k and would be a hindrance.

Folk who do long-term work in retail or hospitality must constantly be asked to give evidence, what with theft and drunken arseholes battering f**k out of each other.

[Ad Lib]

The food is shit and the waiting about is long and unpredictable.

[welshbairn]

Never been asked, they're terrified of me revealing the truth about 9/11. 

[Detournement]

16 minutes ago, supermik said:

Did the judge throw it at you?

To add insult to injury the sheriff didn't even speak to me directly. He told the sorta sidekick guy to tell me. 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

1 hour ago, Richey Edwards said:

I bought a suit out of Primark for jury service and wasn't even summoned to go in.

I enjoyed the few days off work though.

that reminded me - I mind years ago going to meet up with a couple of friends of mine in town, can't mind why but we all had to have a fairly smart dress code for the night. Met them at the train station and I said to the friend that ordinarily always just cut about in Stone Island gear "oh, that's a nice looking suit, not used to seeing you in stuff like that, haha"

His reply: "Oh, thanks mate. Yeah, my sister's stole it from Asda for me for my upcoming court appearance".

Burst out laughing, paraphrased a little but it's still one of the best sentences I've ever heard anyone speak.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Thistle_do_nicely