Also known as: right to jury trial · rights of jury trial · jury trial right · right to trial by jury
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional entitlement ensuring that certain factual questions in criminal prosecutions and civil actions are decided by a body of lay jurors rather than by a judge alone. The right attaches when the proceeding carries a potential penalty exceeding six months of imprisonment or seeks legal remedies analogous to common-law damages. Waiver of the right requires an affirmative showing on the record that the party understood the rights being relinquished.
Ricardo Rojas was charged with arson and appeared before the court to enter a guilty plea. The judge accepted the plea after reviewing only a brief written form that listed the charge and sentence recommendation but contained no mention of the right to a jury trial. Rojas later moved to vacate the conviction because the record never demonstrated that he understood the rights waived by pleading guilty.
Rowan Russell was convicted of assault after a jury trial. At sentencing the judge imposed an exceptional sentence based on a finding that Russell had acted with deliberate cruelty, a fact neither admitted by Russell nor found by the jury. The sentence exceeded the standard range that would have applied on the jury verdict alone.
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Rina Rahman was tried for burglary in a state that permitted conviction by a ten-to-two jury vote. The jury returned a guilty verdict after ten jurors voted to convict and two dissented. Rahman appealed on the ground that the non-unanimous verdict violated her right to a jury trial.
Rosalind Reed was convicted of a weapons offense. The judge then found by a preponderance of the evidence that the offense was a hate crime and imposed an enhanced sentence above the statutory maximum for the offense of conviction. Reed challenged the enhancement because the aggravating fact had not been submitted to the jury.
Rebecca Ross, a Black defendant, faced trial on felony charges. The prosecutor used peremptory challenges to strike all Black prospective jurors from the panel without offering race-neutral explanations. Ross objected that the strikes violated her right to a jury selected without racial discrimination.
Renata Russo was convicted of drug distribution. The judge applied mandatory sentencing guidelines and increased the sentence based on a judicial finding that Russo had possessed a firearm during the offense. The enhancement rested on facts neither admitted nor found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Sixth Amendment permits states to use juries smaller than twelve but requires at least six jurors. A five-person jury falls below the constitutional floor and violates the right to trial by jury even if the defendant agreed to the smaller panel.
No. Federal procedure requires that the defendant waive the jury right in writing, the government consent, and the court approve before a bench trial may proceed. The government's refusal prevents conversion to a nonjury trial.
The record must affirmatively demonstrate that the defendant understood the nature of the charge and the constitutional rights being waived, including the right to a jury trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the privilege against self-incrimination. A silent or incomplete record renders the plea constitutionally inadequate.
…that guarantees trial by jury. What ultimately demolishes the case for the dissenters is that they are unable to say what the right to trial by jury does guarantee if, as they assert, it does not guarantee—what it has been assumed to guarantee throughout our history—the right to have a jury determine those facts that determine the…