MinnesotaJury Nullification
In Minnesota a statute says the court decides questions of law and the jury decides questions of fact, and that the jury shall receive as law the court's instructions. The state constitution gives a jury of twelve in felony cases and at least six in other criminal cases. A court rule says the jury's verdict must be unanimous in all cases.
Overview
Juries in Minnesota
Minnesota puts the answer in its criminal code. The court decides questions of law and the jury decides questions of fact. The statute adds that although a jury may return a general verdict that takes in questions of law, it shall receive as law the court's instructions.
That statute has one exception for a kind of case, and it gives the defendant a right to object to the court's decisions on the law. What the exception is, and how the rest of the section works, is in the Minnesota chapter of the guide.
The Minnesota constitution gives a jury of twelve in felony cases and lets the legislature set the number in other criminal cases, with a floor of six. A court rule says the verdict must be unanimous in all cases. When the parties can agree to something else is in the chapter.
The Minnesota chapter
What's in the Guide for Minnesota?
Jury selection
Who has a right to a jury trial in Minnesota, how that right can be given up, and the safeguards a court has to follow before it accepts a smaller jury.
What the judge tells you
The chapter explains the statute that tells a jury to receive the court's instructions as law.
How the verdict works
What the unanimous verdict rule says, when the parties can agree to a verdict by fewer jurors, and what a defendant has to do in person before a court will allow it.
Protections and risks
What Minnesota law says about keeping a jury together and private during deliberations, and what a juror has to do on learning they have personal knowledge of a fact in the case.
The law in plain English
The Minnesota laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statute on who decides the law and the facts, the statutes on deliberation and on a juror with personal knowledge, the court rule on trial by jury, and two sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Minnesota's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes, constitution and court rules on the Revisor's site, the publisher's listing for the jury instruction guides, and the Judicial Branch's Jury Service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Minnesota?
A Minnesota jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide the questions of fact in a case. A felony jury is twelve people.
The Minnesota Judicial Branch has a Jury Service page, and the state courts publish a juror handbook called All Rise. They cover reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
Those cover serving. What the statute says about the court's instructions, how a unanimous verdict can be changed by agreement, and what the law says about privacy in the jury room are covered in the Minnesota chapter of the guide.
Your Minnesota summons
- Sent byThe county jury commissioner
- Names come fromLicensed drivers, state ID card holders and registered voters
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide the questions of fact in a case
- Jury size12 (felony); at least 6 in other criminal prosecutions, as set by law