Defendant's Rights

The Defendant's Right to a Public Trial

The Sixth Amendment guarantees public trials in criminal cases.  This is an important right, because the presence in courtrooms of a defendant's family and friends, ordinary citizens, and the press can help ensure that the government observes important rights associated with trials.

In a few situations -- normally involving children -- the court will close the court to the public.  For example, judges can bar the public from attending cases when defendants are charged with sexual assaults against children.  Also, the judge may exclude witnesses from the courtroom when it appears that they will coach each other.  The Defendant actually has the right to have the judge keep all of the prosecution witnesses out of the courtroom except when they are testifying.  The judge will even instruct them that they may not discuss the case or their testimony with each other once the trial begins.

The Defendant's Right to a Jury Trial

The Sixth Amendment gives a person accused of a crime the right to be tried by a jury.  This right has long been interpreted to mean a 12-person jury that must arrive at a unanimous decision to convict or acquit. (In most states, a lack of unanimity is called a "hung jury," and the defendant will go free unless the prosecutor decides to retry the case.  In Oregon and Louisiana, however, juries may convict or acquit on a vote of ten to two.)  In Florida a 12 person jury is only used in capital cases.  In less serious cases a 6 member jury is used.  In misdemeanor cases where the judge certifies in advance that he would not sentence the accused to jail, even if they were found guilty, the defendant is not entitled to a jury and may be tried by the judge acting in place of a jury.

Potential jurors must be selected randomly from the community, and the actual jury must be selected by a process that allows the judge and lawyers to screen out biased jurors.  In addition, a lawyer may eliminate several potential jurors simply because he feels that these people would not be sympathetic to his side -- but these decisions (called "peremptory challenges") may not be based on the juror's personal characteristics such as race, sex, religion, or national origin.