Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Hung Jury

If the juror is refusing to examine the evidence and has made up her mind on some other basis, then this fact should be reported to the judge because the juror is not meeting her obligations.

On the other hand, if the juror has reached a decision based upon the evidence and is simply not persuaded by arguments to the contrary, then she *is* doing her job and has simply reached a conclusion different from everyone else's.

Mere disagreement is not a sign that the juror has failed to perform her duties properly. Jurors are required to evaluate the evidence and base their conclusions on that evidence, but they are not required to agree with other jurors.

If the jury believes they cannot reach a unanimous verdict, they should so inform the judge. She will probably send the jury back to try again and might also have some questions about why the jurors don't think they will reach a verdict. In time, though, she will have to accept that there is a hung jury and that there will be no verdict. It is then up to the prosecutor to decide whether to try again.