Have any of you served? If you haven't, would you like too? For those who have served, what sort of case was it and what were your experiences? It would also be helpful when relaying your stories to give an broad indication to your whereabouts, by this I mean country rather than town/city as presumably experiences will be different in Australia to the US or the UK. Did you get fed in hotels or did you have to buy your own sandwich? Did you have any unpleasant experiences related to serving on the jury?

I have not served, nor been summonsed but not required, but I would be interested in serving. Having checked, lunch would be provided in a local hotel and judging by the fact it is 500 yards from the court that pinpoints the hotel in question and it is very nice thank you very much!

All and any details are interesting.

Good thread, Sue.
I served on a federal jury (Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA) two years ago. It was my first jury service. We 12 (plus one alternate juror) heard a drug case. Two young men were being tried together for the same crime: sale of methamphetimines. They were both Hispanic, one spoke English and had attended a California college. The other did not speak English but both were provided with simultaneous translators, one for each man.

I had to drive 75 miles each way to the court house. It was winter and we had icy roads, so I elected to stay in Cheyenne the second night of the three-day trial. The government provided the room, meals and a daily stipend for jurors. We also were issued canvas covers with "Federal Juror" stenciled on them for covering parking meters. We could park anywhere near the court house without being ticketed.

Each day, at lunch time, we were escorted by federal marshalls to a different restaurant where we ate together while the two marshalls ate at another table and made sure that we were not approached by anyone else except restaurant staff. I felt very important.

The third day would be our last for deliberations because we were in agreement (except for one person) that the two defendants were guilty as sin. We would not pronounce sentence, only find guilt or innocence. Sentencing was the judge's job.

The final day was Monday and I had spent the weekend at home. I left for the court with plenty of lead time because of the icy conditions. About 30 miles along the interstate, my car decided to make a sudden left turn into the wide, grassy median that separated the northbound from the southbound lanes. With no braking and no steering and a forward speed of 45 mph, I went across the median into the northbound lanes, my windshield covered with snow that had flown up when I went through the snow covered grass. Blind and sliding, I managed to turn on the wipers to see what fate awaited me, realized that I was in deep doodoo and steered for the grass as the car slowed down.

There I sat for two and a half hours, on the cell phone to the judge's clerk, my wife, and a towing service. I had no idea where I was, literally. In Wyoming there are many miles of open land with only mile post markers for you to determine how far you are from the next town. I was between mileposts.

Now, I'll leave you wondering what happened next because this post is entirely too long already. TBC (to be continued).

Fascinating, I can't wait for the next instalment!

Wow - does that always happen when you do jury service or do jurors occasionally get home safely?
like sue, I'm looking forward to next installment - please don't keep us waiting too long!

Hi Sue

I have never served on a Jury. As a Police Constable I was not elligible to serve, nor my wife. I'm retired now and would love to be called but I'm not sure if I would be allowed even now. I always wondered what it would be like to be in the room during deliberations. In the U.S. jurors are allowed to talk to the press after the trial but in Canada they are not allowed to speak about it as they could be charged under the criminal code.

I was summoned several years ago, when I was living in London, but at that time I was an officer of Customs and Excise and so I wasn’t eligible. Apparently the law was changed in 2003 and just about anyone can now be called upon to serve.

I suppose I’d serve if I got a summons, but on the whole I hope I can avoid it, simply because courts are such utterly boring places, and I don’t want to spend any of my hard-earned retirement being bored.

I was called for jury service several years ago. The case was about an African American who stabbed a college student. It seems that the African American stole the college student's books and tried to resell the books to the student in front of the student's friends. The student's friends beat the hell out of the African American. The African American left the scene and a few hours later he came back and stabbed the college student whose books he stole and tried to resell. The African American was found guilty and sentenced five to ten years for attemtped murder.

About two weeks ago I was sent a summons to appear for jury duty, but this time I used the hardship area of the summons and got out of it, as the pay for jury service is horrible and my place of employment does not pay for the time lost while on jury duty.

I have never been called for jury duty although Maynooth has been, at least twice, both here in Australia and when we lived in America. Both times he was not selected, so the whole experience was rather boring, with a lot of waiting around. Luckily he always carries a good book with him wherever he goes!

I don't know all the conditions for jurors here except that they get paid a pittance to attend court (a totally unrealistic compensation). If you are lucky and have a compassionate employer, they may still pay you and chalk it up as sick leave or some other type of leave, but they are not obliged to. I believe that if you work for the government, they will continue to pay your wages.

You also get paid conduct money which is supposed to cover the cost of catching public transport to court (so you can't get out of it on the grounds that you can't drive). I don't know the exact amount but it's only a couple of dollars.

Judging by conversations I've had with friends, most people seem try to get out of jury duty if they can, because of the above circumstances.

I would not mind having to do jury duty - just for the experience. I'm one of those who'll try almost anything once just to have had a new experience!

However, even if I was called, I doubt if they'd ever select me for a jury. I've been told by a lawyer friend that they rarely select teachers as teachers have a reputation (in legal circles) of either being too intelligent or too opinionated! I can't imagine why (LOL ).

Edited to add: Has anyone here ever had the experience of NOT being selected and they suspect it was because of their occupation or some other specific characteristic?

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I've been told by a lawyer friend that they rarely select teachers as teachers have a reputation (in legal circles) of either being too intelligent or too opinionated! I can't imagine why (LOL ).

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Neither can I , for sure, Mother Goose!
Here we are also paid a pittance, this is supposed to include meals and travel. I would not get paid by my employer as I am on a daily basis. I am sure there must be a law in some places that forbids employers from refusing to pay people who miss work for jury service. (Where is their Public Spirit?).
You can get out of it here if you speak neither Chinese nor English well. There are many people living here who are in that position. I was lucky again this year as there were no cases called (you can go to the website the night before and check) That was Christmas week so I struck lucky there.However, I was prevented from going away for the holiday as I could not risk booking a seat and having to cancel. There have been some horrific cases here and I would hate to have to serve on those.

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Edited to add: Has anyone here ever had the experience of NOT being selected and they suspect it was because of their occupation or some other specific characteristic?

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Not me, but it happens here that the accused often object to Westerners being on the panel.

Jury duty, chapter 2.
Ok, there I was stuck in a snowbank. Maybe 10 cars stopped and people offered help over the two and a half hours. One highway patrol officer stopped and we exchanged pleasantries for about 20 minutes - he in his car and me in mine. I told him about the tow truck I was expecting while he monitored his radar for speeding drivers coming up behind him. One guy he clocked at 90mph! On a snow packed interstate road! The officer simply shrugged and said that he wasn't going to chase him, the conditions were too dangerous.

When I finally got pulled out and put back on the pavement I drove only a few miles to the next town where I had a hot dog and coffee to calm my shot nerves and called the judge's clerk once again. She asked if someone could come and get me for the rest of the 50 mile trip to the court house. I gratefully accepted and the judge sent his personal federal marshall body guard to pick me up.

Now, I felt really important. My fellow jurors, however, were probably ready to strangle me. We got to the court house right at lunch time just as my fellow jurors were coming out of the elevator as I was about to go in. We went to lunch, came back and deliberated about 3 more hours before delivering the guilty verdict.

I caught a ride back to my car with a fellow juror. All in all, a memorable experience.
That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.