OregonJury Nullification
In Oregon a statute makes jurors the judges of the effect or value of the evidence, subject to the control of the court. The same statute has the judge tell them that this power is not arbitrary. The state constitution says that in all criminal cases the jury has the right to determine the law, and the facts under the direction of the court as to the law. State law sets a jury of twelve. A jury can return a verdict of guilty only by unanimous agreement, and a verdict of not guilty by at least ten of the twelve.
Overview
Juries in Oregon
Oregon's statute makes the jury the judges of the effect or value of the evidence, subject to the control of the court. It also has the judge tell jurors that this power is not arbitrary and is to be used with legal discretion, within the rules of evidence.
Oregon sets two numbers for a verdict in back to back lines of one statute. A jury can find a person guilty only by unanimous agreement. It can find a person not guilty when at least ten of the twelve agree. What the Oregon constitution says on the same subject, in its own words, is in the Oregon chapter of the guide.
That statute has one more thing to say about witnesses, and about how many of them it takes to bind a jury. What it says is in the chapter.
The Oregon chapter
What's in the Guide for Oregon?
Jury selection
How Oregon borrows its civil trial rules for criminal trials, and how a jury can be polled in writing with the results sealed into the record.
What the judge tells you
The chapter explains the statute that lists what a judge has to tell a jury about weighing evidence.
How the verdict works
How many Oregon jurors it takes to convict and how many to acquit, what the state constitution's own wording on verdicts says, and how the chapter sets the two texts side by side.
Protections and risks
How Oregon's bribery law treats a juror as a public servant, and what the statute says about a jury that is not convinced by the witnesses in front of it.
The law in plain English
The Oregon laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the statute on the jury's duty and the judge's instructions, the statute on the number of jurors needed for each verdict, the statute on trial procedure and polling, the bribery law and its definitions, and the section of the constitution on the rights of the accused.
Official state resources
Links to Oregon's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the legislature's site, the Judicial Department's court rules, the State Bar's listing for the uniform instructions, and the courts' Find Juror Information page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Oregon?
An Oregon jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to weigh the evidence in a case as one of twelve jurors.
The Oregon Judicial Department has a Find Juror Information page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. What the judge has to tell you about weighing evidence, how many jurors it takes for each verdict, and how Oregon law treats a juror as a public servant are covered in the Oregon chapter of the guide.
Your Oregon summons
- Sent byThe circuit court for your county
- Names come fromDriver's license, ID card and voter registration records
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, weigh the evidence in a case as one of twelve jurors
- Jury size12