Also known as: juries · panel · triers of fact
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A body of persons selected according to law and given the power to decide questions of fact and return a verdict in the case submitted to them.
Federal prosecutors charge Jerome Jackson with a capital offense. Because the Fifth Amendment requires indictment by a grand jury for such crimes, the government convenes a grand jury to determine whether probable cause exists before Jerome can be held to answer.
In a civil contract dispute between Jasmine Jordan and Jordan Dynamics, the court takes judicial notice that a key date fell on a Sunday. The judge instructs the jury that it must accept this noticed fact as conclusive when deciding the case.
Shareholders of Jensen Farms bring a derivative suit. Upon the corporation's motion the court appoints a panel of individuals to determine whether maintaining the action serves the company's best interests, and the panel's decision controls the outcome.
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Jennifer Jackson faces criminal charges and consults her lawyer about trial strategy. After full consultation Jennifer decides to waive her right to a jury trial, and her lawyer must abide by that decision when entering a plea or proceeding to a bench trial.
Jacob Jennings sues Jones Petroleum after an unexplained explosion at a storage facility. The court first decides that a jury could reasonably infer negligence under res ipsa loquitur before allowing the case to proceed to the jury for its factual determination.
During jury selection in Judy Jacobs's criminal trial the prosecutor uses peremptory challenges to strike several Black venire members. The defense makes a prima facie showing of racial motivation, shifting the burden to the prosecutor to provide a race-neutral explanation for the strikes.
The Fifth Amendment requires a grand jury indictment for capital or otherwise infamous crimes before a person can be held to answer, except in military cases arising in time of war or public danger.
In a civil case the court must instruct the jury to accept the noticed fact as conclusive. In a criminal case the court must instruct the jury that it may or may not accept the noticed fact as conclusive.
Under Model Rule 1.2(a) the lawyer must abide by the client's decision whether to waive a jury trial after consultation, just as the lawyer must follow the client's choice on whether to plead guilty or testify.
The court determines whether the inference may reasonably be drawn by the jury or must necessarily be drawn, while the jury decides whether to draw the inference when different conclusions may reasonably be reached.
The Equal Protection Clause prohibits using peremptory challenges to exclude jurors on the basis of race. A defendant who makes a prima facie showing shifts the burden to the striking party to offer a race-neutral explanation, after which the court decides whether purposeful discrimination occurred.
…1253 from specific denial of injunctive relief, and the arguments as to both aspects are necessarily identical. See Carter v. Jury Comm'n , 396 U. S. 320 (1970); Florida Lime Growers v. Jacobsen , 362 U. S. 73, 80-81 (1960). It would be destructive of time and energy for all concerned were we to rule otherwise. Cf.…