West VirginiaJury Nullification
In West Virginia the instruction on the jury's role calls jurors the sole judge of the facts, and says it is their duty to follow the law as the judge gives it even though they may disagree with it. The state constitution sets a jury of twelve for crimes and misdemeanors. A court rule says the verdict shall be unanimous. The West Virginia Judiciary's handbook for jurors says the same about the law.
Overview
Juries in West Virginia
The West Virginia instruction on this has two halves and joins them with the words on the other hand, and with equal emphasis. Jurors are the sole judge of the facts. It is also their duty to accept and follow the law as the judge gives it, even though they may disagree with it.
The West Virginia Judiciary says the same in its handbook for trial jurors, and ties it to the juror's oath. The handbook also tells jurors what to do when something in it conflicts with what the judge says. What that is, is in the West Virginia chapter of the guide.
The state constitution says trials of crimes and misdemeanors shall be by a jury of twelve, and a court rule says the verdict shall be unanimous. What jurors are told before any evidence, about secrecy and about explaining a verdict, is in the chapter.
The West Virginia chapter
What's in the Guide for West Virginia?
Jury selection
What a West Virginia jury is told before the evidence starts, how the Judiciary's handbook describes the judge handing the case over, and what the constitution says about the size of the jury.
What the judge tells you
What the West Virginia instruction says about the facts and the law, who publishes the instruction set, what the Judiciary's handbook adds, and what jurors may do with a judge's comment on the facts.
How the verdict works
What it means that all twelve West Virginia jurors must agree, how a verdict is returned in open court, and how a jury is polled.
Protections and risks
What West Virginia law says about intimidating or harassing a juror, about getting back at a juror afterwards, and what a juror harmed that way can do about it in court.
The law in plain English
The West Virginia laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the law on intimidating and retaliating against jurors and witnesses, and the sections of the constitution on criminal trials, on civil juries, on speech and the press, and on truth in libel cases.
Official state resources
Links to West Virginia's official sources, each one checked. They cover the code and constitution on the legislature's site, the Judiciary's court rules and its handbook for trial jurors, the criminal jury instructions from Public Defender Services, and the Judiciary's Jury Information page.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in West Virginia?
A West Virginia jury summons asks you to come to court and, if you are picked, to be one of twelve judges of the facts in a case.
The West Virginia Judiciary has a Jury Information page and publishes Jury Duty: A Handbook for Trial Jurors. They cover reporting, who can serve, and what to expect in court.
Those cover serving. What the instruction on the facts and the law says in full, what you are told about secrecy, and how state law protects a juror during and after a case are covered in the West Virginia chapter of the guide.
Your West Virginia summons
- Sent byThe circuit clerk
- It asks you toCome to court and, if you are picked, be one of twelve judges of the facts in a case
- Jury size12