FederalJury Nullification
In federal court a national rule says the verdict must be unanimous and returned to a judge in open court. The jury is twelve people unless the parties agree in writing to fewer. Pattern jury instructions are issued circuit by circuit. The First Circuit's set tells jurors they alone are the judges of the facts and must follow the law whether they agree with it or not.
Overview
Juries in the Federal Courts
Two things are the same in every federal district. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure say the jury must return its verdict to a judge in open court and that the verdict must be unanimous. They also set a jury of twelve, with fewer only when the parties agree in writing.
Jury instructions are different. The federal courts publish pattern instructions circuit by circuit, so the wording a jury hears depends on where the trial is held. The First Circuit's set tells jurors that they alone are the judges of the facts, and that they must follow the law whether they agree with it or not. What the printed comment to that instruction says is in the federal chapter of the guide.
The United States Constitution gives the accused a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district where the crime was committed. It also says no person shall be put in jeopardy twice for the same offense. What that means for a verdict is in the chapter.
The Federal chapter
What's in the Guide for the Federal Courts?
Jury selection
Who questions possible jurors in a federal trial, how many each side can remove without giving a reason and how that changes with the charge, and how federal law says jurors are to be drawn.
What the judge tells you
What the First Circuit's pattern instruction tells jurors about the facts and the law, what its printed comment adds, and why the chapter treats one circuit's set as an example and says so.
How the verdict works
What the national rule on unanimous verdicts requires, how a jury of twelve can become eleven after deliberations begin, and what the Constitution says about being tried twice.
Protections and risks
What federal law says about trying to influence or intimidate a juror, about writing to a juror, and about harming a juror because of a verdict.
The law in plain English
The federal laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, the federal laws on influencing a juror and on how jurors are selected, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure on jury trial, on choosing jurors, on instructions and on the verdict.
Official state resources
Links to official federal sources, each one checked. They cover the United States Code, the Constitution, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the pattern instructions published by a federal district court, and the United States Courts' Jury Service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in the Federal Courts?
A federal jury summons comes from a United States district court. It asks you to come in and, if you are picked, to be one of twelve judges of the facts in a case.
The United States Courts have a Jury Service page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused, and it points to the court for your district.
That page covers serving. How federal jurors are drawn and questioned, what a pattern instruction says about the law, and what federal law does about anyone who tries to reach a juror are covered in the federal chapter of the guide.
Your Federal summons
- Sent byA United States district court
- Names come fromVoter lists and other sources under the district's plan
- It asks you toCome in and, if you are picked, be one of twelve judges of the facts in a case
- Jury size12; fewer by written stipulation, or 11 by court order if a juror is excused after deliberations begin