Jury Duty

Last week I had my first ever jury duty experience...

To get onto the jury you have to get through 2 stages of ballots, and then not be challenged by either sides lawyer (if they think you'll be bias against them they won't let you be in the jury).

This is what the case was about:

So I made it onto the jury, and the 12 of us spent the week listening to evidence about the two charges. We spent HEAPS of time waiting in our jury deliberation room, as it turns out that anything thing takes ages in court, even just getting everyone in their right positions so we can enter the room!

The accused was blatantly guilty, but unfortunately we could not find him guilty. This is because 1 person within the jury was adamant that he wasn't guilty. This lead to a very unsatisfying 'Hung Jury' where we couldn't get a verdict and so we were released by the judge, and the trail has to start again with a fresh jury. In NZ a jury must be unanamous, and without that no verdict can be given.

The whole thing is really frustrating cause I know he is guilty as sin, but he's got another chance to get off, and in the mean while he's out there in the community...

All I can say is NEVER under any circumstance let your children go to public toilets on their own. NEVER

Even after my less than satisfying week, I'd still recommend anyone who has the opportunity to do jury duty to do it at least once... I think it was an interesting experience to add to my life, and I met some cool people who were on the jury with me too :)