LouisianaJury Nullification
Louisiana law has the judge tell the jury that it is the judge of the law and of the facts on the question of guilt or innocence, and that it has the duty to accept and to apply the law as given by the court. Juries are twelve people for the most serious offenses and six for others. For any offense committed on or after January 1, 2019, every juror has to agree.
Overview
Juries in Louisiana
Louisiana writes the answer into the judge's charge. By statute the judge must tell the jury that it is the judge of the law and of the facts on the question of guilt or innocence, and that it has the duty to accept and to apply the law as given by the court. The jury alone decides how much weight and belief the evidence deserves.
Both halves of that sentence are read aloud in every Louisiana criminal trial. What the rest of the charge has to cover, and what a judge is barred from saying about the facts, is in the Louisiana chapter of the guide.
The Louisiana constitution sets the size of the jury and how many jurors have to agree. For an offense committed on or after January 1, 2019, all of them must. What the constitution says about earlier offenses, and about cases tried together, is in the chapter.
The Louisiana chapter
What's in the Guide for Louisiana?
Jury selection
The Louisiana constitution gives the accused a right to full questioning of possible jurors and to remove some without giving a reason. The chapter explains that right and the deadline for giving up a jury trial.
What the judge tells you
What a Louisiana judge has to tell the jury about the law and the facts, when the charge has to be put in writing, and when the jury is allowed to take a copy into the jury room.
How the verdict works
How many jurors sit on a Louisiana jury for which offenses, how many of them have to agree, and how the date of the offense changes the answer.
Protections and risks
What Louisiana's jury tampering law covers, how the state's law against threatening public officials names jurors, and what a judge may not say to a jury about the evidence.
The law in plain English
The Louisiana laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure on the judge's charge, on when the charge is given, on what the judge may not say, and on the number of jurors, with the laws on jury tampering and on threats, and two sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Louisiana's official sources, each one checked. They cover the legislature's site for the codes and the constitution, the Supreme Court's rules, the publisher's listing for the criminal jury instructions, and the Supreme Court's Jury Duty page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Louisiana?
A Louisiana jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide a case as one of twelve jurors or one of six, depending on the offense.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has a Jury Duty page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the judge has to tell you about the law and the facts, how many jurors have to agree in your kind of case, and what the law says about anyone who tries to reach a juror are covered in the Louisiana chapter of the guide.
Your Louisiana summons
- Sent byThe parish jury commission
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide a case as one of twelve jurors or one of six
- Jury size12 (capital, and offenses necessarily at hard labor), 6 (offenses that may be at hard labor)