When we became citizens here the very first form they made us fill out was a jury duty signup form. So, this week I got called. It was right up the street from my work, and I had often seen barristers in white wigs walking about, so I was pretty much just excited to get to go and see how things worked under the Australian system.

I was told that it involved a lot of waiting around, but it didn't for me. After an orientation talk and video for the 250 or so of us who were asked to come, they had a ballot for the first case, which I wasn't selected for, and then a second case that I was. They took about thirty of us into the courtroom, in order to choose twelve. Before we went in the tipstaff told us that the charges were "sexual in nature", and there was a chance to make a plea to be excluded if we didn't think we could handle it (several people went this route). In the courtroom they had another ballot to select the twelve, and so if we got picked we had to stand up and walk by the plaintiff (he was there the whole time) on the way to the jury box. He was allowed to exclude up to six people as they walked by, just based on their name, profession, or looks. Anyway, I got selected, and walked by him - kind of nerve wracking - and he didn't say anything.

So the twelve of us were sworn in, had some more orientation, and broke for lunch. After lunch we watched a videotaped deposition from the alleged victim, that took up the remainder of the afternoon. It was during this that I realized that all the shine had come off the experience, and I really didn't want to decided this man's fate. We only saw a tiny part of the evidence, but it seemed like there was a good chance that it would boil down to a he-said, she-said sort of situation.

This morning we all met again and were escorted to a different courtroom. While we congregated in the jury chambers, one of the jurors was called into the courtroom. The appointed start time came and went while we all wondered what was going on. When the juror returned we were told to leave all our materials there and come into the courtroom.

It turned out that our mysterious juror remembered a former coworker talking about the arrest of the plaintiff (or a case very similar), and that the coworker had called the guy a scumbag or something. He was duty-bound to report this, and though the prosecution wanted to proceed anyway, the defense felt this was sufficient grounds to ask for a new jury. And so we were all dismissed. The relief for everyone was palpable. I commented another juror that it felt like we got a pardon from the governor. I feel bad that another jury will still have to decide the case, but I'm mostly just glad to have escaped.

In the end I was glad to have the experience, and now I have a three-year exemption from having to serve again. And a check for $78 for my trouble.