Doing your duty at court

Press, 8 September 1982, Page 25

Doing your duty at court

KAY FORRESTER

More than 500 “good men and true” have been called for jury service at the No. 2 District Court since June 22 last year when the judge thanked 12 jurors — six men and six women — for their service at Christchurch’s first district court jury trial. ■ Forty-five jury panels of 12 have been selected since District Courts were first empowered to hold trials in May 1981. Under the Juries Act, 1981, anyone living within 30km of the District Court in Armagh Street, aged between 20 and 65, and a registered voter on the electoral roll can be called for jury service. Any person who has spent three or more years in prison dr on periodic detention, or has been sentenced to more than three months in jail or borstal training within the preceding five years is disqualified from serving on a jury.

Also , exempt from jury duty are all members of the Executive Council, members of the House of Representatives, judges, visiting justices, members of prison parole . boards, practising lawyers, policemen, traffic officers, public servants employed in prisons, courts or the Department of Justice in Wellington, probation officers, mentally disordered people incapable of serving because of physical disabilities.

The names of those eligible to sit-on the jury bench are listed in the court offices. From this a roll of about 15,000 is randomly selected each year . and numbered cards corresponding to the names are kept in a box. Cards are drawn from this box and registered letters

sent-fout summonsing people for .jury duty. A -new,-., list of potential jurors is' made up each year when .'the Registrar of Electoors * notifies the court of additions and deletions to the electoral roll. To avoid the embarrassing situation that occurred, in Rotorua . and Hamilton earlier this’year, when trials had to be postponed because therb were not enough jurors,- the registrar, Mr Robert Twidle, usually summonses between 150 and 200 people; for "each jury panel. That way court staff can be sure of a working panel of 60 to 70 from which 12 jurors can be chosen. ■ “About half of the letters we serid’ out will be returned because’ people have ' moved on or addresses are incorrect,” said Mr Twidle. “Then other people will ask not to do jury .duty for a variety of reasons.” ' Just over a third of those called for service will ask to be excused and “generally we try to accommodate them” said- Mr Twidle. “Most have genuine reasons and we don’t want an unwilling juror. “There are some people who feel they cannot be unbiased because of previous dealings with the law in some respect. Others ask to be excused for health reasons.”

In some cases the court has insisted that people who have asked to be excused turn up for jury duty. “We need a group of about 60 because each defendant is entitled to challenge six jurors and there may be several trials during the one week.” said Mr Twidle. Until the Juries Act came

into force in May, jurors for both the District Court and High Court were called at the same time and the panels for the two courts were chosen from the same group of people.

New District Court and High Court jurors are summonsed separately, although from the same list of names. This means that one person could be called to sit on a jury in both the High Court and the District Court at the same time.

“If that happened we would certainly excuse that person from one court,” said Mr Twidle.

Under the new legislation a person can be called for jury service several times. This has happened quite often, according to Mr Twidle. Prior to May, if a person was called for jury duty -his name was then struck off the list and could not be included again until the list was redrawn after each general election. Now the numbered card is immediately returned to the box and the person may be called again within a. few weeks.

The Juries Act allows anyone having done jury service to be excused, if desired.’ if called again within two years. ' ■ ■ ~ '. The system appears to have- an anomaly in that while some people may • be called on several times, others will never do jury duty because they live out-

side the strictly-defined jury district boundaries. There are seven jury districts in the South Island, centred on towns where the High Court sits. Each covers an area of “30km by the most practical route” from the courts in Invercargill, Dunedin, Timary, Greymouth, Nelson and Christchurch. The Christchurch district stretches from Motukarara and Burnham to West Melton, Eyreton, Swannanoa and Rangiora to the port of Lyttelton. Mr Twidle believes the system of jury districts allows a fair cross-section of the community to appear on the juries in the Christchurch courts. “We have quite a number of rural people, as well as from the city. Thirty kilometres covers quite an area,” he said. Trials from the Ashburton District Court are held at Christchurch because Ashburton does not have room for them. Extensive renovations had to be made to the No. 2 courtroom in Christchurch before jury trials in the district court could be held there.

District Court trials were introduced last year as part of a new system of. running courts recommended by the Royal Commission on the Courts in 1978.

Any defendant facing charges which carry penalties of 10 years in jail, or less, can be tried in the District Court. A maximum fine of 510.000,.can be imposed on any offender found guilty. ;

Since June, 198 i. 53 trials that would otherwise have been held in the High Court have taken place in the No. 2

courtroom. Because separate panels are now called for the District Court and High Court, many more people have done jury service. Jurors are paid 56.50 a half day for the week they are on jury duty. Their employer is obliged to either pay them the difference between that and their basic wage or collect the $6.50 and pay the employee his full wage. Employees away from work on jury service are not usually out of pocket because they are paid travel and meal allowances by the courts. However they do miss out on overtime because the employer has to pay only the basic wage. He also has to meet only one week’s wages. If the trial goes on longer (and it usually does not) the juror can claim a hardship allowance from the court for loss of wages.

With more people being called upon to sit in judgment on their peers, employers are noting the absence of staff away on jury duty. One large company has had at least six employees from a department of 80 called for jury service in the last year. The Employers’ Association has had no complaints from employers but points out that work commitments is one reason a person may be excused serving on a jury.

Many people consider jury service — in either the High Court or the District Court — as their public duty, others see it as a nuisance. Whatever your opinion it is worth remembering that anyone not turning up for jury service when summonsed may be fined up to $3OO.