I had a couple juror summonses a few years ago, and at the first one one of the sheriffs who escorted us to the courtroom and gave a little bit of an introductory spiel warned us that if they went through the entire juror pool and didn't find enough people (12, and potentially two additional alternates) they could be empowered by the judge to deliver summonses with immediate effect to passers-by. He said it had been decades since they'd had to do it in Calgary, but warned us never to be near the Courts Centre over the noon hour on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteTiger
As noted in the article, this was the first time it's happened in Calgary since 1996, and it happened because they went through the usual pool of 80 jurors without finding the full 12 they needed.
|
A quick remark on the number of potential jurors: 80 people is an extraordinarily low turnout. At the two jury selections I attended we had around 300 people, just for one trial; in this case they only had 80 show up to fill
two juries. I'm not surprised in the slightest that with so few people there they had to take these extraordinary measures. (Although with peremptory challenges no longer being a thing, I suppose the pool could be about 20 people smaller than before.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteTiger
I got a summons once, but of course, the selection was for a week I happened to be out of the country.
Haven't heard from them since.
|
Aren't you a police 911 dispatcher? I would think you'd be excluded from jury duty as an employee of the police service, although I admittedly don't know if that's the case or if you're considered an employee of the greater City of Calgary.