Confused juror follows crowd and accidentally joins trial
A woman accidentally joined a trial as a juror at the Crown Court by "following the crowd". The case heard by the Crown Court was potentially compromised after the woman strolled into the courtroom and joined the jury despite not being picked to sit on the trial.
The woman was sitting outside the courtroom in a group of people who had been summoned for jury service. Usually the panels are drawn to select the jurors for each case. Instead of being selected, the confused juror noticed a group of people walking into the courtroom and she joined them on the jury bench.
Coincidentally, the staff hadn't noticed as a male juror who had already been selected didn't show up. As a result, the prosecution still gave their opening statement to the jury.
Luckily, the confused juror had realised her mistake and immediately alerted the judge. If the case had gone ahead the court could have faced a mistrial as the woman was not properly chosen and sworn into the jury.
After alerting the court, the other jurors were sent out and the woman was called back into the courtroom alone.
Judge Jonathan Seely said at Chelmsford Crown Court that he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years of handling cases. He reassured her that it was a genuine mistake and said that she had done the right thing in raising the issue.
The court checked that she had no connection to the case before allowing her to leave. She was told that she was not allowed to discuss any details of the case with anyone.
When the correct jurors were called back into the courtroom, the Judge commented: "The lady who was sitting in your position was, of course, not a member of this jury and simply followed the crowd I suppose."
The case was set to be reheard with the original jury.
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