27 NOV 2024 post begun 0739hrs GMT
Dark at 4pm and not light again until 8am the following morning. I usually love this time of year, late autumn is the high point of the year for me. But, not this year because I was dragged unwilling into having to be out and about AND to have to be around a people I have come to view as best avoided at all costs.
Last year I was on 'jury standby' for nearly two weeks. I had to sit by the phone during the day in case I was called, I had to ring the court every afternoon 'after 5pm' to check if I'd been called for the next day. Major pita, frankly and it disrupted my daily routine to the point I was profoundly grateful when the daily check-in phone call informed me I could stop checking in and thanked me for being willing to serve.
My husband and several friends told me I'd likely never have to do that again because usually the interval between being cited for possible jury duty is years and years and I'm close to the cut-off age (70+) to be able to say no if I were to be called again...
Yeah huh. Last week I was not only cited to be on stand-by but informed two days later I'd been selected and should be at the court by 0945hrs the following Monday (25th Nov 2024). Oh. Dear. God only knew how many days having to sit in a closed environment with the sort of people who yearn for a return to the days of witch trials, dunking-burning-boiling in oil.
The only 'good thing' about it all was the weather turning balmy (ish, it is NE Scotland after all:) so at least we didn't have to worry about snow-ice-black ice.
Arrived, checked in, forced myself to keep my mouth shut unless absolutely necessary (locals notorious for unfriendliness to outlanders and in their minds I am that worst of outlanders - a dual citizen with Scottish AND American ties, university educated AND possessing a accent best described as English-Canadian).
Day1 went along well enough. Day2, er, well, by midway through D1 personalities had exposed themselves to the extent many of the other jurors had admitted to prejudice against the accused and their willingness to send him to the gallows if possible. NOTE - we do not have the death penalty in the UK and sadly it is clear most of my fellow jurors regret that.
This despite the fact the Crown failed utterly to prove the case (three charges, first two involving assault with the added 'bonus' of the accused using a knife and the third being about having a knife in public). To make a long story short, the jury was instructed to go ONLY on presented evidence and said evidence was a fail from coppers reports on-scene, 'victim 1 and 2' testimonies, obvious Crown successful attempts to confuse the accused and his defence witness, and an absolute failure to present evidence corroborating the Crown prosecution.
Meanwhile the defence attorney shredded the Crown's 'case' in every aspect from the inconsistencies of Vic1 and 2 testimonies including several instances of contradicting both their statements to police done 'on the night' AND their testimony in court.
The Crown failed to answer two vital questions - why didn't the police search for a knife on the night (no explanation as to why they didn't) and why weren't the DNA results from Victim1's clothing presented as corroborating the victim's statements?
Three charges:
1-that the accused had held a knife to Victim2's throat
2-that the accused had attempted to stab Victim1
3-that the accused had a knife in public
No matter to a majority of my fellow jurors - they came right out on D1 to declare if the accused wasn't guilty, the Crown wouldn't have brought the case. And since the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) had brought the case, the accused was guilty. No further discussion needed. Interestingly, the jury table was split - the eight most determined to declare the accused guilty sat at one half of the table and those of us wanting to hear ALL the evidence (seven of us) were crammed together at the other half (assigned seating but it is worth noting we seven were uniform in our view of things as were the eight down the table).
At the critical point late in the afternoon of D2 when we were deliberating, a show of hands vote was taken - of 15 jurors, eight voted guilty on charges two and three with seven voting not proven (my vote on all three charges) and a unanimous not guilty on one count - which didn't make any sense because if Charge3 was not guilty or not proven the other two charges couldn't have been either.
The entire two day exposure to 'my fellow Scots' reminded me why my G-G-Grandfather maintained ties with Scotland but never 'went home' to live. My great-grandfather did go back long enough to get his engineering training at Edinburgh (then on to Germany for his post-grad training) but also never 'went home', and why his sons and grandsons (including meown da) never did either. The consensus was the average 'teuchter' (local yokel) was thick as mince, determinedly and dangerously so. Honestly? Honestly nothing I've seen in the 15 years I've been home has proved my forefathers incorrect.
Any road, that's done - onwards to getting the house ready for Christmas 2024!
Posted 27th Nov 2024 at 0836hrs GMT
