What Is A Hung Jury In A Los Angeles Criminal Trial?
Hung juries relate to jury trials where the jurors cannot agree on a unanimous verdict. When a criminal case goes off, the jury listens to all of the evidence. They deliberate, and then they come back to the judge and say judge, we can't come up with a verdict – either guilty or not guilty.
In other words, in criminal cases in Los Angeles, all twelve jurors must agree on the verdict. So, if they can't decide, the judge can declare a hung jury at some point.
Now, the judges only do that sometimes. I've had trials and I've seen trials where jurors say they are deadlocked. They can't agree and the judge orders them to go back and continue to deliberate until they get a verdict. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes, the jurors start pushing people around – figure it out, come up with a verdict. Other times, the jurors return and say, listen, we tried. We cannot come up with a unanimous verdict.
Judge Declares a Mistrial in Los Angeles
At that point, the judge will declare a mistrial – he declares a hung jury, and then the jurors will be excused. Then, it will be up to the prosecutors to re-try that case. In other words, just because there is a hung jury doesn't mean the case goes away.
I've seen a case tried three times before there was finally a verdict on the case. So, the prosecutors can choose whether they want to re-try it, but then the judge can still dismiss the case.
Even if the prosecutors want to re-try after a hung jury in Los Angeles, if a judge feels there is not enough evidence and it will probably result in a hung jury again, then the judge can dismiss the case on their own. So, there's a motion that the defense can file if the prosecutors decide to go forward after a hung jury and ask the judge to dismiss the case.
There are a lot of factors the judge will rely on – I think one of the biggest factors – is how serious the case is.
In other words, if it's a murder case, it's highly unlikely that a judge will dismiss it. They'll let the prosecutors do that. If the prosecutors don't want to do that, they can re-try the case and expend the money, time, and resources to try to get the conviction on the case.
Effect of a Hung Jury in Los Angeles
So, in criminal defense, a hung jury is better than a guilty verdict. Still, if you're going to a jury trial in a criminal case in Los Angeles and you're the defense, you want a not-guilty verdict. You don't want a hung jury, but sometimes you start with a hung jury in Los Angeles, and then you see why the jury hung.
In other words, did it hang in favor of the defense or favor of the prosecution? What are some of the problems for the defense in the case?
The jurors will usually point that out and let you know what they believe the issues are in the case. You can often fix those issues as a criminal defense attorney and then come at it differently – either through investigation or different angles as far as cross-examining witnesses or presenting your evidence. You can fix any problems from a defense standpoint and try to get that not-guilty verdict.
On the flip side, the prosecutors can also see problems in their case. They can fix issues in their case. Often, jurors say, you had the burden of proof. You didn't do this. You didn't do that. Now, the prosecutors – knowing it was a hung jury – can go back and attempt to fix any problem they might have through investigation.
They will ask witnesses different questions, get different witnesses, and take a different approach to present the evidence in the case. So, both sides can do that if a case receives re-tried. Like I said, if it ends up in a hung jury again, it's the same process. The prosecutors decide whether they want to re-do the case, and then the judge will determine whether or not the hung jury results in a dismissal.
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