There is a set of
legal criteria that make it so that a
potential juror legally must be excused
(vacation that has already been paid for
with non-refundable tickets, caregiver
for young children or shut-in sick
people, a few others).
When I was called up to serve in a Jury in
the UK, I was not excused, but had the service delayed (a week) when I could not
attend on the date of call up: a prepaid, non-refundable expense is reasonable
for a delay, not reasonable to be excused.
The best method I can think of
is:
- Randomly pick 12 members from the pool.
- Before they swear in,
they may excuse themselves if they have a very good reason (eg they feel they
have connections with any party) by requesting it of the judge with the
reason.
- A legal representative of either party may request any juror not
self-excusing, to be excused but only with a very-very good reason. (eg as
above, but not, eg, because they have a Samsung phone1)
- When
swear in, the oath should include that they are not connected to the
parties.
- If later found to be connected, they would be guilty of
perjury.
Simples.
1Who knows, they may have bought it
thinking it an apple product.
Which reminds me...I just purchased an MP3
player as the one in my phone is using far too much of the memory I need for
other things and my wife could also borrow it; my wife referred to it as an iPod
even though (1) it is a shop own brand one and she was there when it was bought,
and (2) looks nothing like an iPod. Pity that she believes that MP3 player ==
iPod. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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