MississippiJury Nullification
Mississippi's constitution says that in libel prosecutions the jury shall determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court. The standard instruction tells jurors their oath binds them to follow the law the judge states. Court rules set a jury of twelve for a felony and six for a misdemeanor in justice or county court, and require the jurors to be unanimous to convict.
Overview
Juries in Mississippi
Mississippi's standard instruction starts from the oath. Jurors swore to follow and apply the rules of law to the evidence, so it is their duty to follow the law the judge states. The same instruction calls deciding the facts the jury's exclusive province.
The Mississippi constitution speaks to the jury and the law in one place, its section on libel. There the jury shall determine the law and the facts under the direction of the court. What that section covers, and how the chapter sets it beside the instruction, is in the Mississippi chapter of the guide.
Mississippi's court rules set twelve jurors for a felony and six for a misdemeanor tried in justice or county court. In both, a conviction needs the unanimous consent of the jurors. How a verdict is polled and recorded is in the chapter.
The Mississippi chapter
What's in the Guide for Mississippi?
Jury selection
How many jurors sit in which Mississippi court, where a jury can be asked for and where it cannot, and how alternates are chosen.
What the judge tells you
What the Mississippi standard instruction says about the oath and the law, what it says about a juror's own opinion of what the law ought to be, and what a second published set of instructions says.
How the verdict works
What unanimous consent asks of twelve Mississippi jurors or of six, how a jury is polled before a verdict is recorded, and what the instructions say about each juror's own judgment.
Protections and risks
What the instructions tell a Mississippi juror about holding to an honest view while deliberating, and about ignoring any sign that the judge has an opinion on the case.
The law in plain English
The Mississippi laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the sections of the constitution on speech and libel, on the rights of the accused and on trial by jury, with the court rules on the number of jurors and on verdicts.
Official state resources
Links to Mississippi's official sources, each one checked. They cover the state code and constitution, the Judiciary's court rules and published model instructions, and the juror resources the state courts' site links to at The Mississippi Bar.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Mississippi?
A Mississippi jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to take the juror's oath and decide the facts of a case.
The Mississippi Bar keeps a page of resources for jurors, and the state courts' site links to it. It includes a juror video and a handbook.
Those cover the day itself. What the oath commits you to, what the constitution says about the jury in libel cases, and how a verdict is polled are covered in the Mississippi chapter of the guide.
Your Mississippi summons
- Sent byThe circuit clerk of your county
- Names come fromRegistered voters in the county
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, take the juror's oath and decide the facts of a case
- Jury size12 (felony), 6 (misdemeanor in justice or county court)