TexasJury Nullification
In Texas a statute has the judge give the jury a written charge setting out the law of the case, without any opinion on the weight of the evidence. The pattern charge tells jurors to apply the law in the instructions as they judge the facts. A felony verdict needs twelve jurors, and each juror has to agree to it. The state constitution says the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. It also says that in libel indictments the jury has the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court.
Overview
Juries in Texas
Texas law has the judge hand the jury a written charge before the lawyers argue. It has to set out the law of the case. It may not give an opinion on the weight of the evidence, sum up the testimony or discuss the facts.
The pattern charge tells Texas jurors to apply the law in the instructions when they judge the facts and decide which witnesses to believe. What the charge says about the evidence, and about asking to hear testimony again, is in the Texas chapter of the guide.
In a felony case not less than twelve jurors can return a verdict, and each juror has to agree to it. Texas law names one way eleven can do it. What that takes is in the chapter.
The Texas chapter
What's in the Guide for Texas?
Jury selection
Texas law lists eleven reasons either side can give to remove a possible juror, and three that cannot be waived. The chapter also explains the challenge each side has for a juror's bias against the law it relies on.
What the judge tells you
What the Texas pattern charge says about the law and the facts, what state law bars a judge from saying, and what a jury is told about a fact the court treats as known.
How the verdict works
What it means that each of twelve Texas jurors must agree, when eleven can return a verdict, and the rules that control deliberations.
Protections and risks
What Texas law says about arguing a case to a juror in private, who may be with a jury while it deliberates, and what a juror can and cannot be asked about afterwards.
The law in plain English
The Texas laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure on the right to a jury, on the written charge, on talking with a jury, on the number of jurors and on challenges for cause, with the law on improper influence, four rules of evidence and two sections of the state constitution.
Official state resources
Links to Texas's official sources, each one checked. They cover the statutes and constitution on the state's official site, the Judicial Branch's rules, the archived volume of the pattern jury charges, and the Judicial Branch's Jury Service in Texas page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Texas?
A Texas jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to judge the facts of a case. The judge gives you the law in writing.
The Texas Judicial Branch has a Jury Service in Texas page. It covers reporting, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
That page covers serving. The reasons a juror can be removed, what the written charge says and leaves out, and what stays private about a jury's deliberations are covered in the Texas chapter of the guide.
Your Texas summons
- Sent byYour county
- Names come fromThe Secretary of State's list of registered voters and driver's license or ID card holders
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, judge the facts of a case
- Jury size12 (felony)