MarylandJury Nullification
Maryland's Declaration of Rights says that in the trial of all criminal cases the jury shall be the judges of law as well as of fact, except that the court may pass on whether the evidence is enough to sustain a conviction. A court rule has the judge tell the jury how far each instruction is binding. The Maryland courts say the jury's decision must be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in Maryland
Maryland's Declaration of Rights says that in the trial of all criminal cases the jury shall be the judges of law, as well as of fact. The same sentence carries an exception: the court may pass on whether the evidence is enough to sustain a conviction.
A Maryland court rule sits beside that sentence. When a party asks, the judge instructs the jury on the law and on the extent to which the instructions are binding. What the rule says next, about arguing the law to the jury, is in the Maryland chapter of the guide.
The Maryland courts tell jurors that the decision of the jury must be unanimous. How a verdict is returned, and what else the Declaration of Rights says about juries, is in the chapter.
The Maryland chapter
What's in the Guide for Maryland?
Jury selection
When a Maryland jury is instructed, what form the instructions take, and what a judge has to add whenever the evidence is summed up for the jury.
What the judge tells you
The chapter sets out the court rule on how instructions are given, including what it says about instructions that are stated not to be binding.
How the verdict works
What the Maryland courts tell jurors about a unanimous decision, and what the Declaration of Rights and the court rule each say about the jury, the law and the facts.
Protections and risks
What Maryland law says about anyone who tries to influence, intimidate or get in the way of a juror, by threat, force or corrupt means.
The law in plain English
The Maryland laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the article of the Declaration of Rights on the jury as judges of law and fact, the court rule on instructions to the jury, and the law on interfering with jurors, witnesses and court officers.
Official state resources
Links to Maryland's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes on the General Assembly's site, the Declaration of Rights at the State Archives, the Judiciary's rules, and the Maryland Courts' Jury Service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Maryland?
A Maryland jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide a criminal case with the other jurors. The courts tell jurors that the decision must be unanimous.
The Maryland Courts have a Jury Service page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the Declaration of Rights says about the jury, how far a judge's instructions bind, and what Maryland law says about anyone who interferes with a juror are covered in the Maryland chapter of the guide.
Your Maryland summons
- Sent byThe jury commissioner for your county's circuit court
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide a criminal case with the other jurors
- Jury size12; fewer if the parties stipulate