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December 29, 2007
I Knew There Was Something Else.....
... interesting that I've done. In my whole life, no I mean, in the last year.
Jury service!
It was too, interesting, when it wasn't mind-numbingly boring that is. Luckily for me this didn't happen too often. There were people who didn't even get on one jury panel in the whole two weeks and they were begging the rest of us to release them from the misery by the second Tuesday. One bloke even took up knitting to try to stay sane.
But I was kept busy, I only spent one morning sitting around, the rest of the time I was on cases: 1 robbery (guilty); 1 racially motivated threatening behaviour (not guilty); 1 burglary (case dismissed); 1 malicious wounding (guilty); and 1 rape (not guilty). I ended up doing an extra week and I have to say, I didn't mind a bit. I was foreman on the last case and got to stand up and declare the accused "Not Guilty M'lud", that made me feel special. LOL
The whole experience opened my eyes to the great British legal system though. It sucks.... for two reasons. Firstly, the supreme lack of effort that the police and barristers appear to make in bringing a decent case. So many times we, the jury members, were left asking each other "why didn't they ask him this" or "what happened to that piece of evidence" and so on. Ironside it isn't. Although there was one barrister who appeared to be doing a screen test while doing his bit, he raised a few laughs, although I don't think that was his intention.
Secondly, the idea of being tried by a jury of my peers scares the crap out of me now that I've witnessed "my peers" in action. Some of these people were scarily thick. Prejudices and assumptions abounded; there was very little understanding of the depth of our responsibilities; and, despite patient and detailed explanation by the judges concerned of what our role was, very little desire to listen to any of it.
If I'm ever falsely accused of anything I think I can say with some certainty, I don't have a chance in hell. Right now I'm baking a cake with a file in it just in case. Does anyone know how to make a rope out of human hair?
Posted by lilliebet at December 29, 2007 08:45 AM
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