Cynthia Wilke, J.D., Instructor Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States

Legal Terminology 4 The Jury prosecutor public official responsible for developing and bringing criminal cases to court (Staatsanwalt); (to prosecute) grand jury a group of persons (larger in number than a trial jury) asked to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to charge (to indict) a person with a crime indictment a written statement of the details of a criminal offense with which a person is being charged, may be issued by a grand jury or a prosecutor, depending on the rules of the jurisdiction (to indict) (Anklageschrift) bench trial trial without a jury where the judge decides all aspects of a case petit jury (trial jury) a group of persons asked to determine the facts of a case, after having been instructed on the law by the judge, in order to reach an outcome in a trial (jury trial) juror member of a jury (to serve on a jury; jury duty) array, venire jury pool group of prospective jurors summoned to court for jury duty challenge to the array a request to dismiss a group of jurors based on an incorrect method of selection to impanel the act of selecting a jury from the group of potential jurors voir dire examination of potential jurors for the purpose of determining who will serve on a petit jury challenge for cause a request from a party to a judge that a juror be excluded from the jury based on doubt as to the juror’s ability to be fair or impartial peremptory challenge privilege that each party has to exclude a limited number of prospective jurors from serving on a jury without giving reasons for the elimination hung jury jury whose members cannot agree on a verdict (deadlocked jury) unanimous complete agreement (unanimity; unanimous verdict)