How is the jury sworn in?…
Welcome to Week 6 of the court visit breakdown!
Here is your backstory:
Today I observed the jury being sworn in
This was a trial for Assault occasioning actual bodily harm and threats to kill
So, in order to swear in the jury, the barristers and judge must deliberate before the jury is even brought up to the court.
To begin with council are brought a list of possible members of the jury. They then scan the names and occupations of these people and decide who they may not want to include (with good reason). As this case included many incidents with the police, the defence requested to exclude a member of the jury who currently worked at the police station in a town near the town of the incident, just in case they knew of the officers in the case. Following this, they also excluded a member of the jury that had previously been a chief constable in the town that the incident occurred, again in case they knew of anyone involved.
Once this had been decided, the court usher went down to the jury room and collected all possible members of the jury. Once they entered, they were instructed to go to the back of the court and wait to be picked.
The judge then began. He handed over to the prosecution, where she informed the jury of the different individuals involved in the case, reading out both their names and any important areas that were included in the case (for example, the road that the incident occurred on). This gave the opportunity for any members of the jury to raise their hand if they recognised any of the individuals, or had any connection to the specific areas. Here it was quite exciting, as one of the members raised their hand when hearing the name of a police officer, however, when speaking with the judge and confirming the first name, it ended up being a different person.
The court clerk was then required to pick randomly the 12 names out of the 18 present that would be sitting as the jury. Once their name was called, they were ushered to what would be their specific seat for the whole trial.
Once seated, the court clerk read each of the jury’s names out again, however, this acted as an opportunity for the defendant to object to any of the jury members that had been chosen. Should the defendant fail to object to the jury member, then the jury would individually read out the oath provided to them (this is where they are sworn in). Each would read ‘I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will faithfully try the defendant and give a true verdict according to the evidence’. Once this is read, they are officially a member of the jury.
Once all members have been sworn in, the judge explained to them the role of the judge, the role of the jury, and reminded them that they are not to tell anyone anything about the case, or the deliberations in the jury room. He explained that the judge is there to make judgements on the law and to ensure legally the trial is fair, whereas the jury are there to judge the facts, and to provide a verdict based solely on the evidence they have heard.
Finally, the clerk gave the jury a brief understanding of what the trial is about and what the defendant has been charged with. In this case the defendant had punched his wife in the face and bitten her neck, as well as threatened to kill her.
On that note, I hope you enjoyed and see you next week!