Sunday, July 3, 2011

Trial underway

The defendant is accused of dealing in large amounts of Methamphetamine in a role which puts him as a wholesaler. As presented by the prosecution he has little to do with manufacture of Meth or smuggling of the raw ingredients into NZ. He is a businessman and his transactions could be of any product were it not for the secrecy involved.

Jury composition

The selection process for juries has worked wonderfullly well in the case of this jury. We are a very representative group of New Zealanders. There is a 50 year age range, half a dozen races and grat diversity of occupations. Most of us speak out and are confident either to ask questions or to give our opinions though one man only ventured to speak when he was directly asked to present his view. We return to the seats that we chose when we first entered the jury room eash time we go there for morning and afternoon tea, just as we take th same seats in the jury box in the courtroom. One of our number is consistantly late in the morning, always the last to arrive and once even holding up the court from starting!