Jury trial Flashcards
What did Lord Devlin state in 1956?
“Trial by jury is more than an instrument of justice anf more than one wheel of the constitution; it is the lamp that shows that freedom lives”
What is a jury?
A body of lay people, randomly selected, sorn to be the aribeters of fact to give a verdict based upon the evidence presentd in court
What act governs the use of Juries?
Juries Act 1974
Why is the “right to be tried by a jury of one’s peers” so signficant?
firecely defended tradition that lays at the heart of our legal system, enshired as a principle of civil liberty in the Magna Carta in 1215
What case confirmed the independece of the jury?
Penn and Mead
Ds were preachers and their crime was to organsie a religious meeting on the street. Jurors led by Edward Bushell, refused to convict. Judge would not accept this and threatened to lock them up until they returned with a verdict teh court would accept. Jury were fined and imprisoned
Bushell (1670) = establsihed the indepedence of juries
Edward Bushell then applied for a write of Habeas Corpus. This was successful and the juror were relased. Ever since juries have been free to arrive at their decision indepdendently without fear of punishment
What happened in the case of Mckenna?
After deliberating for more than 2 hours a judge threatened to lock up the jury all night unless they returned the verdict within 10 minutes. They returned a guilty verdict a guilty verdict but on appeal it was quashed due to judicial intereference . Juries must have complete indepedence
What happened in the case of Ponting?
Example of Jury equity
D leaked information about the sinking of a ship during the Folkands war and charged under S.2 Official secrets Act 1911. Jury acciqutted him depsite having no defence
What section covers jury elgibility?
S.1 Juries Act 1974
-18-75
-electoral register
-Resident of the Uk (for at least 5 years since 13th Birthday)
-Not be ineldigible due to mental disorder
-Not be disqualified due to criminal conviction
Prior to 1972 what requirment was there to be on a jury?
Property reqirement
However it was then found that beuase of this 78% of the electoral register did not meet this requirment and 95% of women were ineligible
=therefore the Criminal Justice Act 1972 connected jury service with voting to broaden the eligiblilty
What did the Mental Health (discrimination) Act 2013 do?
removed those who suffer from mental illnesses and regularly attend for treatment from the ineligibility option
Currently who with a metal disorder are ineligible?
-Those under guardianship
-detained ina hospital
-a person determined by a jury as incapable of administrating their own affairs
How can someone be disqualified from jury service?
Criminal convictions
Permanent:
-life setence
-A term of imprisonment for 5 years plus
Disqualified fro 10 years:
-suspened sentence
-community order
-anoyne convicted of S.20 Juries Act 1974 offences
Bail
Anyone currently on bail in criminal proceedings
*Anyone who fails to disclose such information can be fined up to £5000 *
What did a survey of Inner London find?
1 in 24 jurors are disqualified
What act amended S.1 Juries Act 1974?
S.321 Criminal Justice Act 2003
made significant changes to the rules on who can be excused form jury service
-Only full time serving members of the armed services can be excused
-Anyone else may ask for a “discretionary excusal” but are mcuh more likely with securing a deferral
What is the current guidelines on defferals and excusals?
“The normal expectation is that everyone summonded for jury service will serve at the time for which they are summonded. Only in extreme cicumstances should a person be excused from jury service”
What happens if someone does not attend jury service?
COuld face up to £1000 fine
What act abolished the rule that adminstration of justice in the last 10 years were ineligible for jury service?
S.321 Crominal Justice Act 2003
In the Auld Review what did Sir Auld state about the ris of bias of an adminstrattor of justice?
The risk of bias is no more greater than for any other member of the public
When can a judge discharge a person for lack of capacity?
-inability to understand englidh adeuately
-blind or death
Note: having a disability does not automatically prevent jury service, where possible reaosanble adjustments msut be made
S.9C Juries Act 1974 (updated the PCSC Act 2022) now permits a judge to appoint a sign langauge interpreator to enable a deaf person to act effectively
What was confimred in Abroikof by the HL?
That providing the individual has no connection with the case that would warrant their removal, it is wrong to assume a police officer or lawyer would be more bias simply because of their profession
How is a jury selected?
Names selected at random
then a summons is sent out with a questionnaire
Under S.6 JA 1974 what authority is given to the court clerk?
Authority to go onto the street and pick someone at random to become a member of the jury
What is jury vetting and what are the 2 types?
Where the case justifies it both the prosecution and the defence have a right to see the list of potential jurors so they can be checked for suitability
1) Police criminal record check
2) Background check
What happened in the case of Brownlow?
D was a police officer and the Defence wanted the jury vetted for previous convictions. The judge gave permission and although endorsed by the CA Lord Denning described in obiter that it was a “serious invasion of privacy” not sanctioned by the Juries Act 1974
What case suggested that the vetting of criminal records was “common sense”?
Mason
Widespread vetting of criminal records occurred and the CA agreed it was necessary to ensure that a disqualified person could not serve
What are background checks?
A wider check into someones background act as a further safeguard
However, after Aubrey, Berry and Campbell case where there was widespread unauthorised background checks the AG published guidelines on when background checks were permissible
When is the AG’s permission given for background vetting?
exceptional circumstances such as cases involving terrorism or national security
What are the 3 ways to challenge a jury?
1) challenge to the array (under S.5 Juries Act 1974)
(Prosecution and Defence)
-entire jury to be challenged on the basis that it is unrepresentative or bias, however this is controversial as the selection process is entirely random so it often cannot be helped if it is not “representative”
e.g In Fraser the judge empanelled a new jury because D was an ethnic minority and the jury was all white
e.g However in Ford it was held that if a jury was selected in the proper random manner it cannot be challenged simply becuase it was not multi-racial
2) Challenge for cause
(Prosecution and defence)
-Individual juror, if a juror’s participation could risk the safety of any conviction they may challenge on the grounds of:
-Disqualified
-Jurors bias
-Juror knowns anyone in the trial
e.g Wilson
A juror was a wife of a prison officer who worked in the prison where D was being held. She asked to be removed, but the judge refused. Ds were convicted and appealed. CA stated she should have been removed therefore convictions quashed.
3) Stand by
(Prosecution only)
-individual juror may be asked to “stand by for the crown” meaning they are put on the end of the list not to be used unless there are not enough jurors. Ag’s guidelines stress this should be used sparingly in cases of national security or terrorism
When is there a discharge of the jury?
A judge can discharge a individual or jury to prevent the perversion of justice this is particularly important where there is a risk of racism:
e.g Gregory
“you decide this case on evidence….. allowing no other factors to influence your decision”
Judges can also be discharged because of the inability to perform their role:
e.g Pryce
This over wife taking points on licence for ex-husband. The jury had a complete misunderstanding of their role and asked can a juror come to verdict based on a reason not presented in court and has no facts to support it.
What 4 courts are juries used in?
1) crown court
2) high court, KBD
3) County court
4) Coroner’s court
When are juries used in Civil cases?
Less than 1% of cases
High court (s.69 Supreme Court Act 1981)
County court (s.66 County Courts Act 1984)
When used they perform a dual rule, if D is liable and the quantum of damages
-Claimants can request a jury but it is at the courts discretion
e.g juries have not been used in personal injury cases since Ward when Lord Denning said that owing to their technical nature exceptional circumstances are required
e.g Jury trial was removed from defamation caused by S.11 Defamation Act 2013
When are juries used in coroners courts?
Juries are only requested when deaths have occurred:
-in prison/ custody
-industrial accident
-following the act or omission of a police officer
-health and safety of public is involved
e.g Hillsborough disaster = trial for gross negligence
When are juries used in the crown court?
Juries are required in about 1% of criminal cases
there role is:
-listen to the evidence presented
-listen to witnesses and judge credibility
-examine the evidence
-listen to judicial summing up
They then retire and decide either
Guilty
Not guilty (acquittals are now subject to double jeopardy exception under S.75 criminal Justice act 2003)
In exceptional circumstances in the crown court what can happen if there is a real threat of jury intimidation?
Trials with a judge alone
(under S.44 CJA 2003)
first use in:
Twomey
Ds were charged with multiple offences connected to a robbery, three previous trials had collapsed due to “serious attempts of jury tampering”. Ca permitted the trial by judge alone
The justification for such action has been explained in
JSM
“the principle of trial by jury is precious but any D who is responsible for abusing the principle has no justified complaint that he has been deprived of a right which, by his own actions, he himself has spurned”
What is the split function of the crown court?
judge- arbiter of law
jury- arbiter of fact
At the end of the prosecutions case, the judge could “direct an acquittal”, this occurs in 10% of cases
However, where the trial continues as normal the judge will sum up the case, direct the jury as to the law involved and then allows them to retire to determine the verdict
In the Crown court how does the jury decide the verdict?
Initially jurors are directed to reach a unanimous verdict, the jury do not give any reason for their verdict.
Under S.17 Juries Act 1974 a majority verdict can no be accepted, around 20% of convictions are reached via this method
e.g 12 person 10:2
11 person 10:1
10 person 9:1
9 person jury: unanimous
-a majority verdict will only be accepted after a reasonable period of deliberation this was introduced to prevent jury nobbling
Similarly a juror could have extreme views known as a “hung jury” which happens in only 0.06% of cases
However, it has been suggested in Freeman that majority verdicts dilute the concept of Beyond reasonable doubt
What are the secrecy and juror criminal offences that can happen in crown courts?
Once jurors retire they are not allowed to communicate with anyone other than the fellow jurors, the judge and an assigned court official
Jury secrecy rules were originally introduced to prevent jurors “selling their story”
What happened in the case of Mirza?
D was a Pakistani who had an interpreter to help during the trial. He was convicted but days later a juror wrote to Ds legal team expressing concerns over how the verdict was reached, however nothing could be done due to secrecy laws. This promoted a practise direction (crown court: guidance to jurors) to ensure that jurors go to the judge and alert about any concerns
What happened in the case of Young?
D was charged with the murder of 2 people and the jury had to stay overnight in a hotel as they had not reached a verdict. That night jurors used a ouijia board to contact the dead, the next day they returned a guilty verdict. When the use of the ouijia board became known D convicted quashed and CA ordered a re-trial. Following re-trial D was convicted
What happened in the case of Karakaya?
Jurors left evidence of internet research in the deliberating room, leading to the successful appeal against conviction in a rape case. D was acquitted at the re-trial
What act amended the Juries Act 1974?
Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
add several offences relating to intentionally disclosing information or researching a case online
What offences are there under S.2 (A) -(D)?
s.20(A) and S.20 (B) make it an offence for jurors to research a case and share it with other jurors
S.20 (C) creates an offence when jury member intentionally engages in prohibited conduct
S.20 (D) creates an offence for a juror to disclose information about statements made, opinions expressed and votes casted during jury deliberation
Anyone with a conviction relating to the above will be disqualified for future jury service for 10 years
What happened in the case of Dallas?
D, a university lecturer, was sentenced to 6 months for informing other jurors about her internet research
