The Jury

1. What determines whether I receive a judge or a jury trial?

For any offense where the punishment is incarceration, either a misdemeanour or a felony, you are entitled to a jury trial by 12 people from the community. Usually, almost always, if you're going to have a trial, you would want to have a jury trial because the prosecution has to get all 12 people to agree and it's usually much easier for the defence to knock out just one juror, and has a one in 12 chance, than to knock out a judge who's seen everything.

2. How are jurors chosen?

Jurors are usually chosen by the voter rolls or by the driver's license rolls. They are just picked from the community. Letters are sent out and they are summoned to jury service.

3. What can I do if I don't like certain jurors?

If you don't like certain jurors, you and your attorney have a certain amount of what are called "peremptory challenges." You can always excuse a juror for cause, which means that the juror is actually biased, and you're able to prove that through the questions of that juror. You also have a certain amount of peremptory challenges when you can just remove a juror just because you don't like the way they look or the way they sit. However, it can't be for an illegal reason, based on race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, etc.

5. What is the "charge to the jury"?

The jury is charged with what we call "voir dire," which means "to seek the truth." The jury is charged with finding a verdict. They are read jury instructions; there is a very specific set of laws and rules that explains the elements of the crime in supposedly common phrases. The jury is what's called the "finder of fact." They are charged with determining fact based on the evidence presented, based on witnesses that testified and whether they believe that testimony. They weigh the evidence and they come up with a verdict.

4. What happens if the jury cannot agree on a verdict?

If the jurors cannot agree, they generally come out in front of the judge and say, "We can't agree." And then the judge, who's really frustrated because they've spent a lot of time and effort say, "Look. I want you to go back and try to deliberate, and try to agree on this." And then the judge would say, "Is there anything that would help you agree? Would you like some readback of testimony? Would you like to see some more evidence that would help you agree?" If the jury goes back and they say they are hopelessly deadlocked, if they cannot agree on a verdict, the judge will generally issue a mistrial. The judge will often poll the jurors to see what the deadlock on agreement is. If it's 6-6 or 7-4, or if there's just one holdout. So, for instance, if there's one holdout for not guilty and 11 say guilty, the prosecutor will probably retry the case. If it's the opposite, then the prosecutor might not retry the case.