Have not updated as I have been on Jury Duty. I could have got out on the grounds of age but thought I better do my Civic Duty!!
Amazing, 4th time called up but for various reasons could not attend two of the call ups but on both occasions I have attended I have quickly been selected and never challenged. The first trial I took part in a few years ago was a pretty straight forward "Guilty" case of a drug dealer, although we wasted some 2 hours trying to convict him because 3 held out.
One was on the grounds of logic - so he was easily dealt with but the other two had emotional reasons. One said I don't want to convict as 'there are too many Maori in jail now" and the other claimed " the Police must of planted the evidence". So we wasted some time in bringing them around. Also I remember one person who I don't think spoke much English as she never said a word but as she voted with the majority it didn't really matter. As per usual, later we find out he had a string of convictions.
The same applied to the current trial as for the first I took part in, we all wondered why some witnesses are never called and some questions never asked. People who seem to be crucial are not interviewed nor called. The Judge mentioned that we would wonder this but to ignore it and only work off the evidence placed before us. Weird.
The current case was a rape trial but it didn't involve violence as such. However, it was very complex case but luckily my fellow Jurors were all an extremely competent, sensible and intelligent group. It took us some 4 hours of really hard word to arrive at a unanimous verdict. We had 3 charges and found him not guilty on two and guilty on one.
Being rape it discussed some very intimate details. One of the members said "we are discussing matters and using terms that I wouldn't like to say to my grandmother" which got the response from another "nor my children" and a third chipped in "or my husband". However, we got there.
