01:790:106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Neil Gorsuch, Merrick Garland, Jury Nullification
26 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
13: Trials & Juries/Judicial Selection
Trials and Juries
★History & Function
○ Trial juries (petit juries) judge the facts in a case
○ Origin traced to king Henry II
○ Accused put to trial by ordeal. Priests would determine if suspect was guilty.
○ Church banned priests from participating in 1215.
○ Trial juries protected in in 3 areas of the Constitution
■ Article III, Section 2: “The Trial of all Crimes … shall be by jury.”
■ Sixth Amendment: “speedy and public trial with an impartial jury”
■ Seventh Amendment: addresses importance of trial by jury
★Scope of the Right
○ Not all litigants are entitled to a jury trial
■ Exempt are juvenile offenders, adults, charged with petty defenses
(crimes for which authorized punishment is less than 6 months in jail)
★Jury Size
○ English juries fixed at 12 in the 14th century
○ Supreme Court has rules that juries of less than 12 are allowed in non-felony
criminal cases, and in civil cases
★Unanimity
○ Two states (louisiana and Oregon) permit non-unanimous verdicts in criminal
felony trials, upheld by the Supreme Court
★Voir dire
○ Examination of a prospective juror to determine if they can be fair and impartial
○ Each side in the case can excuse potential jurors
■ Challenge for cause
■ Peremptory challenges - excuse jurors without stating reason
★Batson v. Kentucky (1986)
○ Ruling: Supreme court rules that excluding jurors on the basis of race violates the
Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment
★The Verdict
○ Jury reaches a verdict, either for acquittal or conviction, in a criminal case
○ Juries convict in criminal cases ⅔ of the time, and in civil cases find for the
plaintiffs about 50%
★Trials as Balancing Wheels
○ Juries are democratic institutions
○ Juries introduce community norms into the legal process
○ Jury nullification - right of juries to nullify, or refuse to apply a law in criminal
cases despite facts that support a finding that the law was violated
★US v. Dougherty (1972)
○ Federal appeals court rules that trial judges can decline to inform juries of their
power of nullification, on ground of “chaos hypothesis,” that juries would acquit
defendants too readily
Document Summary
Trial juries (petit juries) judge the facts in a case. Church banned priests from participating in 1215. Trial juries protected in in 3 areas of the constitution. Article iii, section 2: the trial of all crimes shall be by jury. Sixth amendment: speedy and public trial with an impartial jury . Seventh amendment: addresses importance of trial by jury. Not all litigants are entitled to a jury trial. Exempt are juvenile offenders, adults, charged with petty defenses (crimes for which authorized punishment is less than 6 months in jail) English juries fixed at 12 in the 14th century. Supreme court has rules that juries of less than 12 are allowed in non-felony criminal cases, and in civil cases. Two states (louisiana and oregon) permit non-unanimous verdicts in criminal felony trials, upheld by the supreme court. Examination of a prospective juror to determine if they can be fair and impartial. Each side in the case can excuse potential jurors.
