On this page …

• Jury retire to consider their verdict

• Jury Notes - Can the jury ask for help during retirement?

• Delivering the Verdict

• Majority Verdicts - Does the verdict have to be unanimous?

• The Majority Direction

• When can a majority direction be given?

• Taking the verdict after a majority direction

• Not Guilty Verdict

• Guilty Verdict

• Hung Jury - What happens when the jury cannot agree on a verdict?

• Retrial - What happens after a hung jury is discharged?

• Uncompleted trials

• Final remarks and warnings to the jury

• Links to Further Information

The end of the case - the jury’s verdict

A Crown Court trial, from the opening of the case by the prosecution all the way through to closing speeches and summing-up, leads to one ultimate conclusion, the verdict. This is where a defendant will find out if he/she has been found guilty, in which case sentencing will take place, or not guilty, in which case the proceedings will be at an end.

Getting to the ultimate verdict can be a complicated process, and even when the jury retire they may ask for additional instructions from the judge and may struggle to reach agreement. On this page you can read about how a judge can give a majority direction and receive a majority verdict, what happens if there is a hung jury and when, in the event of a hung jury, a retrial will be ordered. You will also find out more about the restrictions placed on questioning jurors about their discussions and deliberations in the jury room.

Read on for for this closing part of the Crown Court trial journey - the jury’s verdict.

Jury retire to consider their verdict

After receiving their final directions from the judge, the jury will be invited to retire to consider their verdict, to decide if the defendant is Guilty or Not Guilty.

The jury bailiffs (who up until that moment will have been court ushers) are then sworn to take the jury 'to some private and convenient place' and neither to allow anyone to speak to them nor to speak to the jury themselves, unless it is ‘to ask if they are agreed upon their verdict.’

The jury then retire and are taken to a private room to deliberate on their verdict. Juries will be free to leave court at the end of the day to continue their deliberations the following day. They should not be placed under pressure of time to reach a verdict.

If the jury do go home overnight, they will be instructed not to speak to anyone outside the jury about the case, simply because by doing so there is a risk of taking into account the view of someone who has not had the advantage of hearing all the evidence. The jury will also be told not to speak to one another about the case until they are all together in the jury room, since the verdict is a decision for all of them.

Jury Notes - Can the jury ask for help during retirement?

Before retirement the jury will have been told by the judge that they have heard all the evidence in the case and there will be no more evidence presented to them. 

Requests for Additional Evidence

This means that if the jury send a note asking for additional evidence which was not presented at trial, such as for enquiries to be made from or about a witness, their request will be declined. The jury are also not permitted to seek extra evidence themselves, such as through online searches.

Requests for Clarification and Reminders

However, juries often send notes asking for clarification of legal directions or a reminder of precisely what a witness said. 

When this happens, the judge will receive the note and pass it to the defence and prosecution advocates. Where necessary, the judge will invite submissions in open court from the prosecution and defence regarding the best way to respond to the question.

All Crown Court trials are audio recorded so the recording can be listened to where there is any dispute about what a witness said in evidence. The jury will then be brought back into court for further instructions, then sent out again to continue their deliberations.

Notes about voting numbers

Juries sometimes send the judge a note about their inability to reach a unanimous verdict, or about their voting numbers (i.e. how many wish to find the defendant guilty and how many not guilty).

The judge will not inform the prosecution or defence of the content of a note about numbers, but it might prompt the judge to suggest giving a majority direction if the relevant time limit has passed (see more on majority verdicts below).

Delivering the Verdict

When the jury have reached a verdict, they will notify the jury bailiff who, in turn, will notify the judge. The advocates will return to court, the defendant will return to the dock, people will return to the public gallery, the jury will be brought back in and the judge will then enter the courtroom.

The court clerk will ask the jury foreperson to stand and ask, “Have you reached a verdict upon which you are all agreed? Please answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”

If the answer is yes, the court clerk will ask, in respect of each individual count and each individual defendant, “Do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?”

The foreman will respond either “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”. See more below about each of these verdicts.

LINKS BELOW TO MORE …

More about Trials, Appeals and Sentencing …