NebraskaJury Nullification
In Nebraska the pattern instruction has the judge say it is my duty to tell you what the law is, and it is your duty to decide what the facts are. It tells jurors to apply the law in the instructions even if they believe the law is or should be different. The Nebraska courts say a criminal jury has to decide unanimously. The state constitution says the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.
Overview
Juries in Nebraska
Nebraska's pattern instruction divides the work in two sentences. It is my duty to tell you what the law is. It is your duty to decide what the facts are and to apply the law to those facts. The Nebraska courts say a criminal jury has to decide unanimously.
The same instruction speaks to a juror who thinks the law is wrong, and it puts a limit on the judge as well. What it tells jurors to ignore in the judge's own voice and manner is in the Nebraska chapter of the guide.
The Nebraska constitution says the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. It lets the legislature allow smaller juries in lower courts, and verdicts by five sixths of the jury in civil cases. What else it says is in the chapter.
The Nebraska chapter
What's in the Guide for Nebraska?
Jury selection
How a Nebraska court settles its instructions with the lawyers, when jurors first hear about the law, and how state law keeps a jury together once the case is handed over.
What the judge tells you
What the Nebraska pattern instruction says about the law as the judge gives it, about a juror who believes the law should be different, and about reading anything into the judge's manner.
How the verdict works
What the Nebraska courts say about a unanimous decision, what happens when a jury cannot reach one, and who can ask for the jurors to be polled before a verdict is accepted.
Protections and risks
What Nebraska law says about trying to reach a juror outside the trial, about offering a juror a benefit and a juror accepting one, and what the officer guarding a jury may not say or pass on.
The law in plain English
The Nebraska laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statutes on the order of trial and written instructions, on the jury's conduct once it has the case, on the verdict and the poll, on jury tampering and on bribing a juror, the court rules on pattern instructions, and three sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Nebraska's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the legislature's site, the Judicial Branch's court rules, the record for the pattern instruction volume, and the Judicial Branch's Jury Service page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Nebraska?
A Nebraska jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to decide what the facts are and apply the law the judge gives you.
The Nebraska Judicial Branch has a Jury Service page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the instruction says about the law and the facts, how a jury is kept together and polled, and what Nebraska law says about benefits offered to a juror are covered in the Nebraska chapter of the guide.
Your Nebraska summons
- Sent byThe county jury commissioner, usually the clerk of the district court
- Names come fromVoter registration, state ID and driver's license lists
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, decide what the facts are and apply the law the judge gives you
- Jury size12 (District Court), 6 (County Court)