Juror Conduct

When serving on a jury, you must follow exactly rules of conduct which are significant to your continued impartiality. You must not talk with anyone about the case. This most commonly includes your family, your friends and your fellow jurors. Only when you are sent to the jury room to deliberate can you discuss the case. To protect jurors from someone speaking unintentionally to you about a case, all jurors must wear the juror identification badge in a conspicuous place on their outer clothing. If a person attempts to discuss the case with you, you should refuse to listen, walk away and inform the court officers immediately. In addition, you must avoid listening to radio or television reports or reading newspaper articles about the case.

Also, you must not make an independent investigation or visit any of the places involved in the case. If it is proper or necessary to inspect a scene involved in the case, the Judge will order the jurors, as a group, to visit the scene. Remember, you can only consider evidence presented in court and must not form an opinion until all evidence has been presented, the lawyers have completed their summations, the Judge has instructed you on the law applicable to the case, and then has directed you to retire to the jury room to deliberate upon your verdict.

Other rules of conduct, no less significant than the preceding rules, include listening closely. Since your verdict is based on the evidence given in court, you should hear every question and every answer. You are not permitted to take notes in the courtroom, and therefore must rely on your memory to recall the evidence in the case. Remember, you are the sole finders of the facts - the judges of the truthfulness and accuracy of the testimony and evidence.