The trial in gripping series The Jury: Death on the Staircase is a re-enactment, but for jury member Anya, it felt wrenchingly real at times. The emotion shown by the accused and the witnesses was an unexpectedly confronting aspect, and the challenge of determining guilt beyond reasonable doubt brought home the weight of the responsibility carried by a jury.
“There is part of (the experience) which still seems kind of surreal,” she reflects. “It was a strange space between reality and something which isn’t quite reality.
“Then empathy kicks in and it really becomes real and upsetting.”
The role of a juror is one that has largely taken place behind closed doors. Many of us know nothing about it. Now, the experience of Anya and 11 other jury members is reflected in compelling detail in new series The Jury: Death on the Staircase. Audiences are given unprecedented access to the process of jury duty, with actors playing the roles of witnesses and legal personnel, using the transcripts from an actual case as their scripts. Through the eyes of this new jury of 12 everyday Australians, a longstanding and sometimes contentious part of our legal system is revealed. Can the diverse panel of jurors really work together? Will they arrive at a unanimous decision?
Anya in the jury deliberation room. Credit: SBS
For Anya, being part of the series meant immersing herself in the realities of the courtroom, a world away from her usual day to day.
“I am a sexologist in private practice and I’ve been doing that for close to ten years now,” she says.
Anya arrived in Australia alone from Siberia at the age of 23, with just two hundred dollars in her pocket, and built a life in Sydney alongside her career as a therapist over the past 30 years. As a self-proclaimed ‘social justice warrior’, being a juror may have seemed like a natural fit for Anya, but she admits that the concept of a jury, and its place in the legal system, was something she had rarely considered.
“I didn’t really have an opinion,” she says. “It wasn’t really something that had ever crossed my path.”
“When I thought about the legal system… I was focused on the outcome of it. The actual jury process never really crossed my mind.”
Though she has extensive experience as a therapist, and expertise in navigating relationships, Anya acknowledges that working collaboratively in the jury room with 11 other individuals, from diverse backgrounds, was an entirely new challenge.
“I was going in with an open mind,” she says. "The first meeting, and the first day, was just about finding your feet in that little collective.”
“Then of course, alliances emerged between people who thought more alike, especially because there was a lot of material (in the case) that could have divided people along political, economic, or social lines.”
The re-enactment of the case, with names, dates, locations and images changed to protect the identities in the original trial, is made vividly real for the jurors throughout the series. Cameras are given access to the entire jury experience, from the hours spent in the courtroom hearing evidence, to the heated discussions and careful deliberations of the jury room, and everything in between.
Actors play the roles of witnesses and legal personnel, including 'Judge Parker'. Credit: SBS
Speculation was inevitable as the 12 jurors worked together to unpack the evidence presented. For Anya, this highlighted the importance of clearly establishing the jurors’ role within the case.
“We were not there to speculate, but you can’t blame people; their imaginations just start running wild,” Anya explains.
“Everybody wanted to solve the crime and I just kept thinking: that isn’t really our job here, is it?”
Described by her friends and family as progressive and direct, Anya said the presumption that she would take on a leadership role in the jury room was not unfounded, however she found herself stepping back at times.
“People totally expected me to put my therapist hat on and to be a people person,” she says. “But therapists are obviously just like anyone, with random personalities, and my personality is usually pretty straight forward, and blunt even.”
“However, if there is somebody more capable than me, then I will be the follower, and let someone else jump ahead in the leadership role.”
Anya (front left) and other jurors in the courtroom. Credit: SBS
As the case unfolds, and the series dives deeper into conflicting accounts from witnesses, each juror is forced to confront the impact of their own personal beliefs and biases, and work to be objective. Though disagreement was expected, Anya says that by and large, the process was a positive one that felt as authentic as a real trial.
“Even though there were obviously differences, and differences of opinion, we actually managed to maintain a really respectful vibe.”
Whether Anya and the other eleven members of the jury will be able to reach a unanimous decision remains to be seen, however, leaving one important question remaining: will this new jury arrive at the same decision as the original trial and what might their decision say about the place of trial by jury in the Australian legal system?
airs weekly on Wednesday from 6 November to 4 December, at 8.30pm on SBS with each episode then available to stream free on SBS On Demand. The Jury: Death on the Staircase will be subtitled in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.
Stream free On Demand
The Jury: Death on the Staircase
