As you might know I was summoned for jury duty about a month ago. Obviously I can’t talk about the case but I can tell you the experience so far.
Yesterday morning, I showed up around 8:15am at the District Court in Perth where I saw two long lines at the security checkpoints where the metal detectors and x-ray machines are set up like those at the airports. I passed that and then proceeded to wait in two long lines to take the lift upstairs to juror reception.
Once I was on the second level, I joined another queue where I was ushered to one of two lines where they issue you with your juror number – from then on, you are known only by your number. I walked into the big juror reception hall where they scanned my number and asked me to verify my name and address. Then I sat down with 400 or more other jurors in rows of cramp seats. This was by then 8:45pm.
There were 11 cases commencing that morning and we were told how it was going to work: 40 potential jurors will be randomly chosen for each case and then we’d be led up to the court room, where ultimately 14 will be chosen for each case.
They did the call up about once every 10 minutes. To kill time, some read books and magazines, some watched the TV and I played with my iPhone.
I was amongst the last group of people to be called – this was now 10:45pm. After we were introduced to the juror officer who will be our guide for the entire case, we were taken to the court room and then told to sit down in the back.
This was when we saw the accused, their lawyers, the crown prosecutors, other court officers and the judge. Our numbers were then randomly chosen once more by the courts clerk. As your number is called, you are supposed to walk to the juror’s bench and sit down. At this point in time, the defense lawyers and prosecutors may look you up and down and decide that they don’t want you as a juror. This was when they yelled “Challenge!” and you are basically dismissed. Then, another juror is randomly chosen again.
Even after there were 14 jurors available on the bench, as we were being sworned in, the lawyers can still challenge. I was slightly amused by the process (some people were stopped as they were walking to the bench or just as they were about to sit down) and I can sorta tell what the lawyers were wanting by seeing the kind of people that they were rejecting.
Anyways, in a nutshell, I didn’t get dismissed and so I’m now on a case that is scheduled to last 5 days. I can’t tell you much until the verdict has been given but I can tell you that it’s a sexual assault case.
So far, the experience has been interesting. The other jurors on the case are nice and friendly, and it’s quite fun during our group discussions even though the whole idea of deciding someone’s fate is still kinda surreal for me.
Our days start at 10am and usually finish at 4pm as it has been this past 2 days. Once in the court building, we are pretty much like kindergarten children and we get told where to go, where to wait and what time to be where. The rooms are highly secured and we can only go in and out with our guide.
And man, are lawyers pedantic or what?! Hahah, but I guess it’s the crux of their profession. For good reason, the meaning of every work uttered or written has to be precise. Still, it can get kinda boring and repetitious when the lawyers grill the witnesses on their answers and how they phrase them.
And unlike what I had gleamed from US TV cop shows, the court is only in session on weekdays and the jurors get to go home at the end of every day. Yay! Which means I still get to go to Future Music Festival this Sunday even if it goes over 5 days. Also, CCTV videos cannot be enhanced infinitely. 
8 Responses to “What’s it like being a juror?”
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Wow, this is very interesting! Would love to hear more. You look like the kind who is unbiased and will give a fair judgement and the lawyers like that.
I think in the US it depends on whether the jury are sequestered or not. It will be based on how ‘dangerous’ the case is – think most cases the juries are allowed to go home. I know here they pay you a daily fee for being a jury – do you get a sum in AUD for the days you turn up?
I feel surreal that someone I know is on a jury as well!! Can just imagine what you must be feeling!
The whole process sounds very Lachey(Troublesome). I wonder how much verdicts were pass each year due to the Jury Process as compared to singapore legal system.
But on the other hand, the chances of winning the cases lies on the lawyers hand instead of the judges.
so what you’re saying is that there’s absolutely no chance of doing a Homer Simpson and forcing the trial to go over the weekend and thus you have to be secluded in a hotel where you can watch pay per view movies all day, pass all of the hotel furniture out of your rooms window to your relatives, destroy the mini bar and eat everything on the room service menu?
sounds boring then
lol
blur ting: yeah I probably look liberal and open-minded.
sourrain: in Oz, my employer is obligated to pay me my normal wages but they can claim it back from the government.
Lupin: it is lengthy and a bit dragged out but this is to ensure the accused gets a fair trial. And having normal citizens be the ultimate judge of the facts does remove any kind of political and judicial bias.
stu: hahah, yeah not a chance of that happening.
This was such an interesting post – I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a juror, especially after watching TV shows where they are locked in a room for like four days while they try to figure out if the defendant is guilty or not. There’s almost always an argument, right?
I don’t think we’ll be locked up but I think we will have to come up with a unanimous verdict on the last day. And yeah, hopefully by then everyone is more or less on the same wavelength. Fingers crossed!
[...] Friday saw the end of my 9-day stint on the juror’s bench. I had told you about the experience on that first day. And I told you know how that experience [...]