So I was summoned for Jury Duty. Not actually my first time. Funny but it's actually my 3rd time to be summoned in a span of 3 years. I was first summoned in 2018 but was excused due to my medical condition back then. In mid-2021, I was placed in the roll again and summoned in November 2021. However due to the COVID situation at the time, I received a deferment just the night before selection. But right after a month, in December 2021, I received another letter from the Sheriff's Office asking me again to attend court for Jury Duty selection.
My schedule was yesterday and I'm proud to say that I have now done my part for the community - I have served Jury Duty, even though I did nothing but watch TV. Hahaha!
It was my first time doing this, so let me tell you this funny story.
I arrived at the Parramatta Court at about 8:15am and went through the required Rapid Antigen Testing. After a few minutes of wait, I was allowed in, completed my registration and was told to wait in the Jury Assembly area. We were told the trial we were to be selected into was 3 weeks long (shorter than the original 6-week trial mentioned in the summon). If selected, we had to be at court everyday, Monday to Friday, from 8:30am to 4pm. We had to sit through 3 sessions of court everyday, and also hold discussions in the Jury room. It was becoming very stressful and you can feel that everyone in the room wanted out.
The assembly room wasn't bad. It was a big space with plenty of seats. There were coffee and tea in the pantry and TVs all over. The Beijing Winter Olympics was on for most of the time. By around 9am, there were about 60 of us waiting in the room.
Around 10:30am, the court officer went to the front and did their welcome remarks. She gave us further briefings on what to expect, what to do, who the people are in court, etc. Then we were told to watch a 10-15min video about the same thing she discussed. After that we were told to wait again as the Court prepares to empanel the jury.
Just before 12:30pm, the court officer addressed us again, informing us that we are being given an hour and 15mins to have lunch outside. We needed to be back by 1:45pm as selection will happen at 2pm.
Lunch happened, then back again in the room.
At 2:45pm, the officer went in front again to do a bit of chit chat with everyone. She gave us a very good rundown of everything that goes on and answer a lot of questions from the floor.
Around 3:15pm, she went up again and relay the instructions she received from the Court. The court is not ready yet to empanel a jury due to some issues (she doesn't know what exactly), and due to that we were all being dismissed and considered to have already served as if we were not selected into the panel. This means we were being excused from the Jury roll for the next 12 months, at least. We were also getting paid the day's allowance as well as the travel allowance - not a lot but a good consolation for the time spent.
So from 8:30am to 3:15pm, most of us 60 people spent our time either doing something on the phones, watching the Winter Olympics on TV, drinking coffee, or sleeping. Unfortunately, that's how boring the Jury Duty experience was for me.
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