Okay, now that is actually rather outrageous. Not that he shouldn’t have faced some form of punishment for breaking the law, but to actually send an apparently otherwise upstanding person to jail for 4 months – and not a suspended sentence or community service – when our jails are currently at breaking point, just feels out of touch and not in any way proportionate to his actions. The guy was apparently researching aspects of the law in relation to the specific trial, which is so I now know, an offence for a juror on duty. Just seems crazy to me, but I guess we can all sleep safely in our beds knowing this dangerous felon if locked up behind bars for a few months.
He was directed not to do any research.
He ignored that direction and did it anyway.
Then he used that research to try to convince other jurors on the legal definition of a specific term that would affect their verdict.
The Judge is the only one authorised to give definitions on that term to avoid that exact scenario.
The consequence of the jurors actions are incredibly serious, and the sentence matches the crime.
So what this tells me is if you want to get out of jury service, you just say you already know too much about the case. Which is what I’ll be saying if ever called up, because there’s no way I am risking going to prison over a fuck up.
as a juror can you ask questions? if something doesn’t make sense to you how do you get it straightened out?
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Okay, now that is actually rather outrageous. Not that he shouldn’t have faced some form of punishment for breaking the law, but to actually send an apparently otherwise upstanding person to jail for 4 months – and not a suspended sentence or community service – when our jails are currently at breaking point, just feels out of touch and not in any way proportionate to his actions. The guy was apparently researching aspects of the law in relation to the specific trial, which is so I now know, an offence for a juror on duty. Just seems crazy to me, but I guess we can all sleep safely in our beds knowing this dangerous felon if locked up behind bars for a few months.
He was directed not to do any research.
He ignored that direction and did it anyway.
Then he used that research to try to convince other jurors on the legal definition of a specific term that would affect their verdict.
The Judge is the only one authorised to give definitions on that term to avoid that exact scenario.
The consequence of the jurors actions are incredibly serious, and the sentence matches the crime.
So what this tells me is if you want to get out of jury service, you just say you already know too much about the case. Which is what I’ll be saying if ever called up, because there’s no way I am risking going to prison over a fuck up.
as a juror can you ask questions? if something doesn’t make sense to you how do you get it straightened out?
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