The prosecution tried to present the poster to the jury in isolation for consideration as obscene material, but Judge Susan Isacoff ruled that the poster must be considered along with the music and lyrics.

The Supreme Court has ruled that if imprisonment is for six months or less, trial by jury is not required, meaning a state may choose whether or not to permit trial by jury in such cases.

In Beacon Theaters v. Westover,, the US Supreme Court discussed the right to a jury, holding that when both equitable and legal claims are brought, the right to a jury trial still exists for the legal claim, which would be decided by a jury before the judge ruled on the equitable claim.

In October 2004, Bullock won a multimillion-dollar judgment against Benny Daneshjou, the builder of her Lake Austin, Texas home ; the jury ruled the house was uninhabitable.

In Branzburg v. Hayes,, the Court ruled that the First Amendment did not give a journalist the right to refuse a subpoena from a grand jury.

Although on the basis of history and precedent the Sixth Amendment mandates unanimity in a federal jury trial, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, while requiring States to provide jury trials for serious crimes, does not incorporate all the elements of a jury trial within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment and does not require jury unanimity.

In Williams v. Florida,, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Florida state jury of six was sufficient, and that " the 12-man panel is not a necessary ingredient of " trial by jury ," and that respondent's refusal to impanel more than the six members provided for by Florida law did not violate petitioner's Sixth Amendment rights as applied to the States through the Fourteenth.

It was reported that after Turner refused to date Colletta he handed her the gun and dared her to pull the trigger, telling her that the gun was “ only a toy .” A coroner ’ s jury later ruled that the shooting was an accident.

In 2004, the inquest was reopened and, after a 64-day inquest hearing, the jury ruled that Maddison had been unlawfully killed by the " application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment.

It ruled that the introduction of evidence about Noriega's role in the CIA would " confuse the jury ".

The jury ruled that Simon's company, William E. Simon & Sons, defrauded Paul Hindelang, Jr., a convicted drug trafficker, in a deal to take over Hindelang's pay phone company, Pacific Coin.

While a jury ruled in Fogerty's favor, he did settle a defamation suit filed by Zaentz over the songs " Mr. Greed " and " Zanz Kant Danz ".

Their appeals to the Florida Court of Appeals was rejected on the grounds that the jury had ruled the confessions had been given voluntarily.

The judge attempted to find the jury in contempt of court ; this was ruled inappropriate by the Court of Common Pleas.

Despite these claims the jury ruled unanimously in favour of Norman.

Likewise this law was invoked in United States v. Jardee where it was ruled that the threat of being subjected to the gun ban did not turn a otherwise " petty " crime into a " serious " one requiring a jury trial.

On July 17, 2008, a federal jury ruled that Bryant had created the Bratz while he was working for Mattel, despite MGA's claim that Bryant had not been employed by Mattel at the time and Bryant's assertion that he had designed the Bratz between two separate periods of employment at Mattel.

After an initial rejection, which he attributed to a `` general Excitement against Abolition and Emancipation '', Giffen bribed the right individuals on the jury, and got the permission without further delay.

A mistrial was declared in the case against the other seven when the jury was unable to agree on a verdict.

In addition, the government is barred by collateral estoppel from re-litigating against the same defence a fact necessarily found by the jury in a prior acquittal, even if the jury hung on other counts.

Historically, one of the best known nominal damage awards was the farthing that the jury awarded to James Whistler in his libel suit against John Ruskin.

In 1995, the jury awarded Scott $ 875, 000 in compensatory damages and $ 2, 500, 000 in punitive damages against Ross, which were later settled for $ 5, 000 and 200 hours of services.

The jury awarded Scott $ 875, 000 in compensatory damages and $ 1, 000, 000 in punitive damages against the Cult Awareness Network ( CAN ), and $ 2, 500, 000 against Ross ( later settled for $ 5, 000 and 200 hours of services " as an expert consultant and intervention specialist ").

Instructions permitting jury nullification has sometimes been criticized as promoting chaos, in that it " conveys an implied approval that runs the risk of degrading the legal structure requisite for true freedom, for an ordered liberty that protects against anarchy as well as tyranny.

In Brazil, for example, trials by jury are applied in cases of voluntary crimes against life, such as First and Second-degree murders, forced abortion and instigation of suicide, even if only attempted.

In countries where jury trials are common, juries are often seen as an important check against state power.

The trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury, and every such trial shall be held in the State where the offence was committed, and if the offence was not committed within any State the trial shall be held at such place or places as the Parliament prescribes.

Controversially, in England there has been some screening in sensitive security cases, but the Scottish courts have firmly set themselves against any form of jury vetting.

A hung jury results in the defendants release, however charges against the defendant are not dropped and can be reinstated if the state so chooses.

" Jury determination of questions of law, sometimes called jury nullification, cannot be overturned by a judge if doing so would violate legal protections against double jeopardy.

When Soliah was eventually brought to trial years later, the evidence against her was not considered by prosecutors to be a " slam dunk ," although enough to convince a jury of her guilt.

In his Betrachtungen über das Geschworenengericht of 1811, Feuerbach declared against trial by jury, maintaining that the verdict of a jury was not adequate legal proof of a crime.

A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania handed down a 48-count indictment against former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella.

In October 1990, the SPLC won $ 12. 5 million in damages against Tom Metzger and his White Aryan Resistance when a Portland, Oregon, jury held the neo-Nazi group liable in the beating death of an Ethiopian immigrant.

He was indicted on May 25, after three students testified against him at the grand jury, at the behest of Scopes.

Judge John T. Raulston accelerated the convening of the grand jury and "... all but instructed the grand jury to indict Scopes, despite the meager evidence against him and the widely reported stories questioning whether the willing defendant had ever taught evolution in the classroom.

Mencken's trial reports were heavily slanted against the prosecution and the jury, which was " unanimously hot for Genesis.

A summary offence is a crime in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and / or indictment ( required for an indictable offence ).

These " peers of the accused " are responsible for listening to a dispute, evaluating the evidence presented, deciding on the facts, and making a decision in accordance with the rules of law and their jury instructions.

Unlike many civil law countries which have some courts on which panels of judges with nearly equal status composed of both legally trained professional judges and lay judges who lack legal training and are not career judges, the United States legal system ( like most Anglo-American legal systems ) makes a clear distinction between professional judges and laymen involved in deciding case who are jurors who are part of a jury.

This practice gives the judge the power to change the finding of the jury when deciding on a sentence.

* Contestants deciding to quit the contest for any reason not health-or other-emergency-related may or may not be called back for the final jury, pending the producers ' decision.

774, at p. 824, Lord Mansfield disparaged the practice of jury nullification: So the jury who usurp the judicature of law, though they happen to be right, are themselves wrong, because they are right by chance only, and have not taken the constitutional way of deciding the question.

If a trial could result in the jury ( or judge in a bench trial ) deciding in favor of the party opposing the motion, then summary judgment is inappropriate.

Then in 1916, the jury was given the option of deciding if they wished to impose the death penalty during their deliberations.

Justice White did not overlook the importance of a free press, however, and established a test, citing Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Comm., for deciding whether a reporter can be compelled to testify before a grand jury.

Although this problem may not be totally correctible, the Court trusted that the guidance given the jury by the aggravating factors or other special-verdict questions would assist it in deciding on a sentence.

The film was released with the gimmick of having the audiences act as a jury and be given ballot papers to mark deciding whether the accused was innocent or guilty.

In November 2007, a jury in Jamaica recorded an open verdict on Woolmer's death, after deciding that there was insufficient evidence of either a criminal act or natural causes.

He will depart from his usual parade ground to attend media-magnet events, for instance the Scott Peterson trial, the BALCO grand jury hearings, or the court case deciding on the timing of the California recall election.

Among other claims made, Leonard claimed that a federal judge was incapable of deciding on the matter, and that instead the decision had to be made by a jury consisting of members of the " Pepsi Generation " to whom the advertisement would allegedly constitute an offer.

In 2005, Chris Doty wrote The Donnelly Trials, a play he based on the court script where twelve members of the audience become the jury deciding the fate of the defendants with the script providing two separate endings for either a " Guilty " or " Not Guilty " verdict.

According to Collins, " What we ’ re in court deciding seems to be a level or two down from what, before we went into the jury, we supposed the trial was about, or had been initially about, which was who leaked identity.