ColoradoJury Nullification
In Colorado the judge instructs the jury on the law and the jury decides the case on the evidence. Jurors first hear that before jury selection begins. The state constitution says that in a prosecution for libel the jury, under the direction of the court, determines the law and the fact. State law sets a jury of twelve for a felony and six for a misdemeanor. Every verdict has to be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in Colorado
Colorado jurors are told how the work is divided before a single juror is picked. A model instruction read at the start says the case must be decided only on the evidence and on the law as the judge gives it. State law adds that the verdict has to be unanimous.
Colorado sets the size of the jury by statute. It is twelve people for a felony and six for a misdemeanor. The same statute covers what happens when a juror has to be excused after deliberations have started. How that works is in the Colorado chapter of the guide.
The Colorado constitution keeps the right to a jury trial in criminal cases and also speaks to grand juries. What it says about each is in the chapter.
The Colorado chapter
What's in the Guide for Colorado?
Jury selection
Colorado's court rules let a judge remove a possible juror whose state of mind shows bias, unless the court is satisfied that person will decide on the evidence and the instructions. The chapter explains how that test works.
What the judge tells you
What the opening instruction tells a Colorado jury about the evidence and the law, and why jurors hear it before selection begins.
How the verdict works
How a unanimous verdict works in Colorado with twelve jurors or with six, and when state law lets the remaining jurors return a verdict after one has been excused.
Protections and risks
What protects a Colorado juror after the verdict, and what state law says about people outside the trial who try to reach a juror or to interfere with how jurors are chosen.
The law in plain English
The Colorado laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statute on unanimous verdicts, the statute on the right to a jury and its size, the jury tampering law, the court rule on challenges to jurors, and the jury section of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Colorado's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes, constitution and court rules on the legislature's site, the Judicial Branch's model criminal jury instructions, and the Judicial Branch's page for people called to serve.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Colorado?
A Colorado jury summons asks you to come to court and help decide a case on the evidence. If you are picked, the judge will give you the law, and you and the other jurors will decide what happened.
The Colorado Judicial Branch has a page for people who have been called. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers getting to the courthouse. How a judge decides whether a possible juror can be fair, what the opening instruction says, and what happens to a verdict when a juror is excused are covered in the Colorado chapter of the guide.
Your Colorado summons
- Sent byThe state court administrator
- Names come fromVoter registration, driver's license and ID card records, and state income tax addresses
- It asks you toCome to court and help decide a case on the evidence
- Jury size12 (felony), 6 (misdemeanor)