ArizonaJury Nullification
In Arizona the judge decides what the law is and the jury decides what happened. A standard instruction near the start of the trial speaks to a juror's own opinion of the law. The state constitution protects the right to a jury trial, and the same section requires the consent of every juror for a verdict.
Overview
Juries in Arizona
In Arizona the split is set out near the start of every criminal trial. The jury finds the facts and the judge gives the law. The state constitution adds that a verdict needs the consent of every juror.
The judge sets out that split by reading a standard instruction. It speaks directly to a juror's own opinion of the law. What it says, and what it does not reach, is in the Arizona chapter of the guide.
Arizona wrote the unanimous verdict into its constitution, in the same section that protects the right to a jury trial. That section also says when a jury has to be twelve people. How it works is in the chapter.
The Arizona chapter
What's in the Guide for Arizona?
Jury selection
An Arizona judge has to excuse a possible juror when there is reasonable ground to think that person cannot be fair. The chapter explains how that standard works and who can raise it.
What the judge tells you
What the standard Arizona instructions say about a juror's own opinion of the law, in plain words. The chapter explains them and links to the published set.
How the verdict works
What it means that the Arizona constitution asks for the consent of every juror, when a jury has to be twelve people, and what a not guilty verdict does once it is given.
Protections and risks
What protects an Arizona juror after the verdict, and what state law says to anyone outside the courtroom who contacts a juror about a case.
The law in plain English
The Arizona laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the section of the constitution that covers both the jury trial right and the unanimous verdict, the court rule on challenges to jurors, and the jury tampering law.
Official state resources
Links to Arizona's official sources, each one checked. They cover the state statutes and constitution, the court rules, the State Bar's criminal jury instructions, and the Arizona courts' jury service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Arizona?
An Arizona jury summons asks you to serve in your county's court and help decide what happened in a case. If you are picked, the judge will give you the law and you and the other jurors will find the facts.
The Arizona Judicial Branch publishes a Jury Service Information page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
The court's page handles the practical side. When a judge has to excuse a possible juror, what the standard instructions say about the law, and what protects you after the verdict are covered in the Arizona chapter of the guide.
Your Arizona summons
- Sent byThe county jury commissioner
- Names come fromThe voter rolls and the driver's license list
- It asks you toServe in your county's court and help decide what happened in a case
- Jury size12 where death or 30 or more years is authorized; otherwise set by law, not fewer than 6