GeorgiaJury Nullification
Georgia's constitution says that in criminal cases the jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts. The pattern charge tells jurors that the judge determines the law and that they are bound by the judge's instructions. The constitution sets a trial jury of twelve, and state law sets six for a misdemeanor trial. The pattern charges require a unanimous verdict.
Overview
Juries in Georgia
Georgia's constitution says that in criminal cases the jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts. A state statute repeats those words. The pattern charge read to jurors says the judge determines the law and that jurors are bound by the judge's instructions.
Those texts sit together in every Georgia criminal trial. The pattern charge prints the constitution's paragraph under its own title. The Georgia chapter of the guide sets them side by side and explains what each one says.
The constitution also sets a trial jury of twelve and lets the legislature allow smaller juries in some courts and cases. A misdemeanor trial has a jury of six. Where Georgia states that a verdict has to be unanimous is in the chapter.
The Georgia chapter
What's in the Guide for Georgia?
Jury selection
When in a Georgia trial the jury first hears how the judge and the jury divide the work, and what the pattern charge says at that point.
What the judge tells you
What the Georgia pattern charge on the judges of law and facts tells jurors, and what the charges on reaching a verdict say about each juror's own conclusion.
How the verdict works
What a general verdict is in Georgia, who signs it, where it has to be received, and who decides the sentence after a guilty verdict.
Protections and risks
What a general verdict records and what it leaves out, and how Georgia law says a verdict is to be read once it has been given.
The law in plain English
The Georgia laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the paragraph of the constitution on trial by jury, the paragraph on libel cases, the statute on the jury judging law and facts, and the statute on receiving verdicts in open court.
Official state resources
Links to Georgia's official sources, each one checked. They cover the state code and constitution, the Supreme Court's index of court rules, the pattern jury instructions from the Council of Superior Court Judges, and the Council's Jury Basics page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Georgia?
A Georgia jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to sit on a jury that returns a general verdict of guilty or not guilty.
The Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia publishes a Jury Basics page. It explains what to expect when you are called.
That page covers the basics. What the constitution, the statute and the pattern charge each say about the jury and the law, and how a verdict is reached and received, are covered in the Georgia chapter of the guide.
Your Georgia summons
- Sent byThe clerk of the superior court of your county
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, sit on a jury that returns a general verdict of guilty or not guilty
- Jury size12 (felony), 6 (misdemeanor)