A juror in waiting

A couple of weeks ago, I stood waiting with 100 of my peers on a Monday morning, in anticipation but secretly hoping I would not hear my name called out.   

All the time that we waited in the lobby at the Supreme Court, waiting for the trial to start and the jury to be selected, there were so many questions about what was happening, what would happen next, who would be exempt from serving and why.  

During my time as a reporter, I must have spent thousands of hours sat in law courts both in Gibraltar and the UK. 

While I spent a lot of time in the front row corner seat in the Magistrates’ Count, I have also reported on my fair share of Supreme Court trials which were heard by jurors.  

One thing I always recommend is that if you tend to feel cold, make sure you bring something to keep you warm because it is always freezing cold in the courtrooms.  

There are always plenty of breaks and an hour for lunch.  

And most cases in Gibraltar are heard within a week, at maximum two. It is very rare for a case to take weeks or months to conclude.  

I’ve always wondered what it must be like to serve on a jury in a case.  

For one, I’ve always empathised with jurors who must make the difficult decision on a verdict after spending days hearing all the evidence.  

Secondly, they never know what case it is that they are turning up to court for, so there’s an element of surprise.  

Lastly, in some cases the evidence that is presented in court can be harrowing and extremely disturbing, something that the average person may never come across otherwise (after seeing and hearing many examples, I sincerely believe jurors should be offered more support in those instances). 

But I do recognise the challenge presented to the courts in selecting a jury and also for those serving because this is a small place and we all know each other in Gibraltar.  

I’ve sat through trials where it’s taken the best part of the morning to select a jury, or others where the jury was empanelled within minutes.   

Under Gibraltar law, nine jurors are selected for a criminal trial, and 12 jurors for a murder trial.  

Once selected the trial begins. Jurors are told they are not allowed to discuss the case with anyone outside of their fellow jurors, and not to look or listen to any news reports.   

They are also told not to discuss their decision for the final verdict.   

The Crown Prosecutor opens proceedings and puts forward their case and all evidence gathered during the course of the investigation.  

After the Crown closes its case, the defendant can choose whether or not they want to take the stand and put forward any witnesses for the defence.  

After hearing all the evidence, the jury is asked to deliberate on their verdict, and this is just a waiting game for all involved.  

Us reporters would either wait in one of the cafés beside the law courts and run back to court when we would see the lawyers head back or, alternatively, we’d swap numbers with the lawyers involved and rely on them to reach out to us with the verdict.  

There have been cases where the jurors have been unable to reach a unanimous decision and it’s taken more than a day to reach a verdict, but that has only happened a handful of times. At least in Gibraltar.  

Jurors are given time to give a unanimous verdict and, if that cannot be reached within a certain timeframe, they are given the option to give a majority verdict, and if that cannot be reached it results in a hung jury which means that the trial has to be held again.  

It has been three years since I left my reporter job at the Gibraltar Chronicle and court reporting is one part of the job that I enjoyed and miss the most.   

Friendships were made in those law courts, and discretion and objectiveness were two skills I learnt which I have carried forward.  

And while I look forward to one day serving as a juror for a very long, boring fraud trial or a drugs trial, my favourite part of court reporting usually stemmed from the Magistrates’ Court, because that is truly where some of the best cases were heard. 

But the discretion I learnt forbids me from going any further.