New HampshireJury Nullification
New Hampshire has a statute that says the court shall permit the defense to inform the jury of its right to judge the facts and the application of the law in relation to the facts in controversy. The instructions published by the New Hampshire Bar Association tell jurors to follow the law as the judge explains it. A court rule says the verdict shall be unanimous. The state constitution bars a second trial after an acquittal.
Overview
Juries in New Hampshire
New Hampshire has a statute on this, and it is about what the defense may say. In all criminal proceedings the court shall permit the defense to inform the jury of its right to judge the facts and the application of the law in relation to the facts in controversy.
The criminal instructions published by the New Hampshire Bar Association tell jurors that the law the judge explains is the law they must follow, whatever their opinion of what the law ought to be. The statute and the instruction both apply in a New Hampshire courtroom. What each one covers is in the New Hampshire chapter of the guide.
A court rule says the verdict shall be unanimous and returned in open court. The state constitution says no one may be tried again for the same crime after an acquittal. What else it says about juries is in the chapter.
The New Hampshire chapter
What's in the Guide for New Hampshire?
Jury selection
How many possible jurors each side in a New Hampshire criminal trial can remove without giving a reason, how that changes with the charge, and how the statute on informing the jury applies during selection.
What the judge tells you
What the instruction on the function of the court and the jury tells New Hampshire jurors, in plain words. The New Hampshire Bar Association publishes the set, so the chapter explains it and links to it.
How the verdict works
What the unanimous verdict rule asks of a New Hampshire jury, what the juror's oath says about the evidence and the law, and what an acquittal means under the state constitution.
Protections and risks
How New Hampshire's law on improper influence reaches jurors, what it says about threats and about private arguments made to a juror, and what it says about gifts.
The law in plain English
The New Hampshire laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statute on informing the jury, the juror's oath, the statutes on challenges, the laws on bribery and improper influence, the court rule on verdicts, and four articles of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to New Hampshire's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes on the General Court's site, the state constitution, the Judicial Branch's rules of criminal procedure, the Bar Association's criminal jury instructions, and the Judicial Branch's page for jurors.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in New Hampshire?
A New Hampshire jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to take the juror's oath and decide a case with the other jurors.
The New Hampshire Judicial Branch has a page for jurors. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the statute lets the defense tell you, what the instruction asks of you, and how challenges work in a New Hampshire criminal trial are covered in the New Hampshire chapter of the guide.
Your New Hampshire summons
- Sent byThe Superior Court's Jury Center
- Names come fromLicensed drivers and registered voters
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, take the juror's oath and decide a case with the other jurors
- Jury size12 (Superior Court)