IdahoJury Nullification
In Idaho a statute gives questions of law to the court and questions of fact to the jury. The standard instruction tells jurors they are bound to follow the rules of law the judge gives them. The state constitution keeps the right to a jury trial and limits the jury to six in misdemeanor cases. A court rule says the verdict must be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in Idaho
Idaho settles the question by statute. Questions of law go to the court, questions of fact go to the jury, and the jury is bound to take as law what the court lays down. A court rule says the verdict must be unanimous.
Idaho's statutes also name one kind of trial where the jury decides the law as well as the facts, and one piece of advice from the judge that a jury is free to set aside. What those are is in the Idaho chapter of the guide.
The Idaho constitution keeps the right to a jury trial and says a jury in a misdemeanor case has no more than six people. What else it says about verdicts is in the chapter.
The Idaho chapter
What's in the Guide for Idaho?
Jury selection
What an Idaho court may tell the jury before any evidence is heard, and how the instructions are settled with the lawyers before the trial starts.
What the judge tells you
What the Idaho instruction on the role of judge and jury says about rules a juror disagrees with or does not understand, and what the charging statute requires the judge to cover.
How the verdict works
What the unanimous verdict rule asks of an Idaho jury, how a poll works, and what the instructions say about giving up an honest opinion to reach a verdict.
Protections and risks
What Idaho law says about people who try to influence a juror, about a juror who promises a verdict in advance, and about retaliation against a juror for doing the job.
The law in plain English
The Idaho laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statutes on who decides the law, on libel trials, on the judge's charge and the advice to acquit, on influencing jurors and on misconduct by jurors, with the court rules on instructions and verdicts and the jury section of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Idaho's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the legislature's site, the Supreme Court's criminal rules and criminal jury instructions, and the court system's Jury Information page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Idaho?
An Idaho jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide the questions of fact in a case. The questions of law belong to the judge.
The Idaho Supreme Court's site has a Jury Information page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. How the instructions are settled, what they ask of you, and what Idaho law says about jurors and the people around them are covered in the Idaho chapter of the guide.
Your Idaho summons
- Sent byThe county jury commission
- Names come fromRegistered voters and holders of an Idaho driver's license or state ID card
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide the questions of fact in a case
- Jury size12, or fewer by agreement in open court; not more than 6 in misdemeanor cases