What Is The Role Of A Jury?
A jury may be impaneled in those cases wherein there is some factual dispute. A factual dispute may be as simple as who ran the red light in an automobile accident case. In a criminal case it may be whether or not the defendant, in fact, is the one who robbed the 7-Eleven store.
Those questions are decided based upon the evidence that is presented to the jury. That evidence comes in the form of witnesses testifying or in the form of exhibits or objects being admitted into evidence at trial by the judge. The jury is then called upon to solve the factual dispute that exists as to who ran the red light or who robbed the 7-Eleven store. The judge in such a jury case decides the legal issues dealing principally with the admissibility of evidence.
In most jurisdictions the jury is not allowed to ask questions of the witnesses as they testify. The jury, in most jurisdictions, can ask questions of the judge during the course of their deliberations about procedural matters.
See Brien Roches book Law 101 published by Sphinx Publishing for more information on this subject.
