NSW Jury Duty

I attended today. What a waste of time.... get there just before 9am. They process you. You take a seat in the big waiting room with daytime TV. Our numbers weren't called at all! Just after 3pm we were dismissed. Something like "Your case isn't ready yet?!"

Another group did get processed and called into a room. Most of them got to go 12.50pm.... just before they have to start paying people the allowance that kicks in from 1pm.

Anyway, I am now off the roll for 12 months....

 

I have to 100% agree with this...

 

I was just listening to a true crime podcast - the Lin Family murder trial of Robert Zi lasted 11 months!

 

Only item I would disagree with. I was on jury duty last April. I would bring the plastic water bottle with me, as did the other jurors.

I did not expect it to be a learning experience. It was an 8 day trial, I requested for the shortest possible trial. The other jury members with me were all probably trying to get the shortest trial as well like me. All of us seemed like in above average paying jobs. There was one juror that I initially thought was not paying attention, as I was busy scribbling notes at each session. I asked a question once we were back in the room, and he had photographic memory, he remembered a lot of details. When I share my jury duty story, most people go, "you were with a lucky bunch". All 12 of us had really good, intelligent discussions. From what I remember from my jury duty members, one was a mechanical engineer, payroll manager, data analyst, legal secretary, graphic designer, psychology professor ... Of the 12, for 2 of them, it was their second time around.

The judge was also a bit lenient with mobile phone usage, so, when we are not in session and in our discussion room, we were allowed to use our mobile phones or laptops.

The food is terrible ...

Regarding the allowance, I get to keep the transport allowance but paid back to my employer the, jury duty allowance. ( Because I was still getting paid by employer during my 8 day duty ).

Would I do it again? Nah ... 8 days is enough. I feel proud to have contributed to the society though.

 

The Lin family lived only around 250m away from me....
I didn't know them personally, but North Epping is a very tight knit community. You see the same people everyday, for example, the local mechanic in the village recognised me as someone who bike rides to the station each day and everybody in North Epping is friendly. Best neighbours, people tend to not move out of area. People sometimes move from one house to another in the same street rather than move to another suburb or state. Very sad event for the community.

I love how you had intelligent people on your jury! It would have made the process so much more pleasant. I guess a short one would be more likely to have this.

A lot like I found I had very intelligent people on my cruise to the Baltic. While most of the cruisers were retired, they had very interesting jobs while working. Makes conversations interesting.

Ps. with the phone confiscation, I was arranging for my sister to cohost my airbnb while I would be on jury duty because airbnb dings you for not responding to enquiries in a timely manner. Plus to respond to emergencies - it would really be no good if someone locks themselves out and their host isn't contactable for hours....

 

Quickest "opt out" is to get a record.
Its little wonder that people who have been through the system are not permitted to sit on a jury.
Because the system is the real let down......
(Those that deserve punishment pay & walk, yet first minor infringements get the book thrown at them!)

 

it's terrible money if you usually work full time!

 

I managed to get a jury thrown out when I was on jury duty many years ago. It was a murder case, the guy allegedly stabbed his Mrs to death in the front seat of her car in a shopping centre car park. I've watched plenty of crime shows on TV in my day but sitting in a court room on day 3 of the trial having the crown make us review each page of the evidence book (60-70 pages worth of graphic photos of the stabbing) while the guy who allegedly did it was standing just a few metres away made me literally sick and borderline faint. After a couple of recesses they realised I wasn't going to be of much use to them and I said to them how can I make an impartial judgement of this content when I can't look at it. They let me go so they had to throw the whole jury. out and start again. The new jury went in, the trial lasted 6 weeks and the guy was found guilty. The worst thing of all were some of the oldies in the jury who were disturbingly interested in the case, they couldn't get enough of it. Twisted people.

 

Linky - SMH, jury duty not all excuses work.