The Jury Verdict
The Jury Verdict
When you go to trial in a Federal Criminal Case
, you will submit your case to the jury upon the close of the Defense's case. Rule 31 governs the specifics about a federal jury verdict. Specifically, a federal jury verdict requires:
Return:
What this means is that the jury
will actually submit a piece of paper with their verdict to the judge in an open court setting where there is no doubt about the actual verdict coming from the jury itself. Everyone will be present, including the Defendant, both sides, and the judge. This ensures trust in the verdict being the real and correct verdict rendered in the case.
Mistrial:
In these scenarios, the jury is split on their verdict. For example one or more of the people on the panel disagrees with the remaining jurors. This disagreement prevents the jury from being unanimous. Without a unanimous verdict the trial is deemed a mistrial.
Lesser Offense or Attempt:
Basically what this means is that a jury can find that the offense charged did not occur, yet the jury believes that part of the behavior did occur. For example, in a
case alleging a theft over a certain dollar amount, a jury may find that the Government has proven that the theft did in fact occur, but that the dollar amount is significantly less than that alleged. If the lower dollar amount constitutes a lesser
then the jury can return a verdict of guilty for the theft, but for a lower degree of theft.
Jury Poll:
By polling a jury the Court asks each jury member whether that was a true and correct verdict that they entered. In most cases every juror member will state that yes it is. In some rare instances a juror member will feel like the other jury members forced them to enter a certain verdict and disagree with the verdict entered into on their behalf. If this is the case then a mistrial or a request for further deliberations is likely. It is always important to poll the jury just for those rare instances as describes herein.
