New YorkJury Nullification
New York's constitution says that in criminal libel cases the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. The court system's model instructions ask jurors to accept and apply the law as the judge explains it, and say the jurors alone are the judges of the facts. The model instructions say a verdict, guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in New York
New York's model instructions raise the law before the trial starts. During jury selection, a fair juror is described as a person who will accept and apply the law of New York as the judge explains it. The same instructions say the jurors, and they alone, are the judges of the facts.
The New York constitution speaks to the jury and the law in its section on speech and libel. In criminal prosecutions for libel, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact. What that section covers is in the New York chapter of the guide.
The model instructions say a verdict, whether guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous. New York law then sets out how a verdict is announced and checked in court. What one juror's answer can do at that point is in the chapter.
The New York chapter
What's in the Guide for New York?
Jury selection
How the New York model instructions define a fair juror during selection, what the panel is asked to promise, and where that promise comes up again when the evidence is finished.
What the judge tells you
What the model instructions tell a New York jury about the law three times, at selection, at the start and in the final charge. They are model instructions, not required ones, and the chapter says so each time.
How the verdict works
How a New York verdict is announced by the foreperson, how the jury is asked about it together and one by one, and what the court has to do when a single juror answers no.
Protections and risks
Who has to be present when a New York verdict is announced, and what the instructions say about reaching agreement without giving up your own judgment.
The law in plain English
The New York laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statutes on announcing a verdict and on recording and polling it, the section of the constitution on speech and libel, and the section on trial by jury.
Official state resources
Links to New York's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the State Senate's site, the Unified Court System's rules and model criminal jury instructions, and the New York Courts' Juror Information page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in New York?
A New York jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to judge the facts of a case. The law comes from the judge.
The New York Courts have a Juror Information page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. How the instructions define a fair juror, what the constitution says about the jury in libel cases, and how a verdict is polled are covered in the New York chapter of the guide.
Your New York summons
- Sent byThe county commissioner of jurors
- Names come fromThe voter rolls and other lists: licensed drivers, state taxpayers, and unemployment or family assistance recipients
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, judge the facts of a case
- Jury size12; the standard charge is written for a jury of 6 or 12