This morning the Coroner for our local area arrived to serve me with a summons to attend court in two weeks time for jury service.
I rang the courts officer to explain about my bad hearing but was told to turn up anyway and see if their loop system would enable me to follow proceedings.
I am hoping that I won't be selected on the day as I am sure that I shall find it a struggle to keep up.
I have always wanted to do jury service. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI hope it is not a mass murderer!
DeleteI enjoyed my time on jury service. It will be a shame if the loop does not work for you. However, jury service in the time of COVID may prove strange. Do they still use the birch on the island? Perhaps Lord Peregrine needs birching after the seagull incident.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... he may well enjoy the experience.
DeleteTell them that you and P used to hold up banks and were in prison for ten years in England. I am sure they would say you wouldn't need to attend.
ReplyDeleteYep, that should do it.
DeleteMy father was called for Jury duty right before hunting season started, and he was very unhappy about it. The man on trial had red hair. So they are questioning the prospective jurors and my father said, "I've never met a red haired bastard that could be trusted." They sent him home.
DeleteHa, ha. Good one. Perhaps I should try something similar 😁
DeleteI hate jury duty with a passion, I like to keep my head buried firmly in the sand when it comes to crime! I've been called for jury duty 3 times. First two times I was picked. One was murder and the other was a child abuse which I told them I couldn't do. I burst into tears and couldn't remain calm so I was dismissed!! The third time I had just read the book 'The Secret' about putting out what you want to the universe so instead of saying I always get picked for a jury I didn't say that and imagined myself walking out before the trial and it worked! lol. I'm not sure if I could patent that but I was a happy bunny! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marksgran. I shall practice throwing a hissy fit and see if that works 😁
DeleteGood luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks Graham.
DeleteI did jury service some 30 years ago. In 2 weeks I was on the jury for just 3 cases each lasting less than a day. There was a lot of boring sitting around in a waiting room waiting to be called for selection on the other days. If you can hear ok with hearing aids normally I am sure you'll be fine.
ReplyDeleteI can hear reasonably well on a one-to-one or small group basis but in larger group discussions I just get lost.
DeleteThey come in person to tell you? Hard to beg off then! You could have pretended that you could not hear the doorbell! Just kidding - you will do your best and have a good post to share with us when you are done!! Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteYes, they have to serve the summons in person. I was in the shower so P took it for me!
DeleteOh poor you. I always dreaded being called for jury service, I jusr knew that I would feel sorry for the person in the dock and hold up the decision, lol. Thankfully I think I am now too old.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
I only had one year to go before I was too old!!!
DeleteP is definitely living dangerously. First no seagull dung empathy and now accepting a summons on your behalf. Yowza. :)
ReplyDeleteHave only been called for jury duty once. Was selected. Attempted Murder trial. Not an experience I want to repeat. Good luck getting dismissed.
Thanks Mary. I am not sure how much of a contribution I can make if I can't follow what is going on. We shall see.
DeleteI've been called three times and escaped every time. Twice was when it clashed with examinations I was due to take, so I wrote and they excused me. The third time I had moved to Scotland but was still on the electoral register at my previous address, so again a letter got me off.
ReplyDeleteThe luck of the devil, Tasker.
DeleteMy sympathies - hope you manage to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteBeen called 3 times and never picked - they don't like teachers! I have decided if I am called again I will refuse to go on account of my age. There's no age limit here but I will act dotty and am sure I will be excused!
ReplyDeleteThere would be no need for acting skills in my case. I am completely dotty already!
DeleteI was called to jury service aged 71, just after the limit had been raised from 65. The trial went on for FIVE WEEKS! I found it really difficult having to get myself into the city every morning, after being retired for a number of years. It was a fraud case and I am now an expert on the efficacy of paw paw cream!
ReplyDeleteAt least here the maximum age is 65. I only had one more year to go!
DeleteI've only been summoned for jury duty once. It wound up being for a federal case, a case of domestic terrorism, back before we were calling it that. A man sent white powder through the mail to the court house, claiming it to be anthrax. The court house was shut down, a huge foufra about possible infections, etc.
ReplyDeleteI got picked for duty, even though I had a careful argument as to why I couldn't do it. I never even got to make my speech.
The man fired his lawyer, and served as his own lawyer. As Mark Twain stated, "A man who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client." The man stood up and in his opening statement said, "You need to decide whether I am guilty of civil disobedience or a federal crime." I sat there gaping. The man had just proclaimed his guilt. In the end, it took three days. There was no way to doubt it. The case against him was irrefutable.
I found it interesting, but I was grateful that it was over in three days.
Well, that was certainly an interesting experience! I hope mine is more boring.
DeleteI always rather fancied the idea of being chosen for jury service, but it never happened.
ReplyDeleteI am very squeamish by nature so hope there are no gory details to go through.
DeleteWhen i qualified in law lawyers could not serve on juries. Somehow fate sneaked my jury service in during my last year in law school. It was an interesting (in watching a train wreck kind of way) exercise in people watching, sizing up humanity (and not just the defendant). Juries need people just like you otherwise the seats get filled with wannabees and that means juries are not 12 peers of the person on trial.
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of it in those terms. I know I should really do my duty but the idea is still very unappealing.
DeleteI hope it works out how you want Jaycee. X
ReplyDeleteKeeping my fingers crossed!
DeleteI was called many years ago. The date was going to be a week after I was due to give birth to my first child. They let me off thank goodness. My husband however was called a couple of years ago, and it was a murder trial. Lasted a couple of weeks. 4 young men accused of a stabbing in the street. They had been caught on CCTV and also one of them had videod it! An easy decision I think but quite harrowing!
ReplyDeleteNot a pleasant experience I would think.
DeleteI was called for jury service once. I replied with a letter giving them the details of my doctor so they could check that I was indeed deaf in one side and would have difficulty in hearing the proceedings. They let me off. Stick with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Here's hoping.
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