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FIJATEXT.TXT
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1990-08-29
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TEXT OF THE FULLY INFORMED JURY AMENDMENT
Section 36. Fully informed juries. (1) It is
the natural right of every citizen of this
state, when serving on a criminal trial jury,
to judge both the law and the facts
pertaining to the case before that jury, in
order to determine whether justice will be
served by applying the law to the defendant.
It is mandatory that all jurors be informed
of this right.
(2) Before the jury hears a case, and again
before jury deliberation begins, the court
shall inform the jurors of their rights in
these words: "As jurors, your first
responsibility is to decide whether the
defendant has broken the law. If you decide
that he has, but that you cannot in good
conscience support a guilty verdict, you are
not required to do so. To reach a verdict
which you believe is just, each of you has
the right to consider to what extent the
defendant's actions have actually caused harm
or otherwise violated your sense of right and
wrong. If you believe justice requires it,
you may also judge both the merits of the law
under which he has been charged and the
wisdom of applying that law to the defendant.
Accordingly, for each charge against the
defendant, even if review of the evidence
strictly in terms of the law would indicate a
guilty verdict, you have the right to find
him innocent. The court cautions that with
the exercise of this right comes full moral
responsibility for the verdict you bring in."
(3) As part of their oath, the jurors shall
affirm that they understand the information
concerning their rights which this section
requires the court to give them, and no party
to the trial may be prevented from
encouraging jurors to exercise this right.
For the jurors to be so informed is declared
to be part of the defendant's fundamental
right to trial by jury, and failure to
conduct any criminal trial in accordance with
this section shall not constitute harmless
error, and shall be grounds for mistrial. No
potential juror may be disqualified from
serving on a jury because he expresses
willingness to judge the law or its
application, or to vote according to
conscience.
MOST STATES HAVE ADOPTED FIJA WORDING
THE SAME AS OR VERY SIMILAR TO THE MODEL
WORDING. California and Nevada have wording
which is quite different, but the functional
sense is the same. California FIJA includes
civil law as well as criminal law.