The Right to a Jury Trial in Minnesota

When does the jury-trial right apply?

The right to a jury trial is guaranteed by both the U.S. Constitution and the Minnesota Constitution, and Minnesota’s rules extend it broadly. In general, you have the right to a jury trial for any offense punishable by incarceration — which covers misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, and felonies. The main exception is petty misdemeanors, which are not punishable by jail and are not crimes in Minnesota; there is no jury-trial right for a petty misdemeanor.

Jury size: 12 or 6

• Felonies — a jury of 12 members.
• Gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors — a jury of 6 members (unless a larger jury is provided).

The more serious the exposure, the larger the jury — reflecting how much is at stake.

The unanimity requirement

In Minnesota, a criminal jury’s verdict must be unanimous — every juror must agree, whether the verdict is guilty or not guilty. This is a powerful protection: it means the State must convince all the jurors beyond a reasonable doubt. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous verdict, the result is a hung jury, which leads to a mistrial — the case isn’t resolved, and the State must decide whether to retry it. Even one juror with a reasonable doubt prevents a conviction.

Choosing the jury: voir dire

Before trial, the lawyers and judge question prospective jurors in a process called voir dire, to identify bias and seat a fair jury. Each side can remove jurors “for cause” (a demonstrated inability to be fair) and can use a limited number of peremptory challenges to remove jurors without stating a reason — though peremptory strikes cannot be used to discriminate based on race or gender. Jury selection is a genuinely important part of the case; the composition of the jury can shape the outcome.

Who is on the jury: the fair-cross-section right and challenges based on race

One of the most common and legitimate concerns people raise is: my jury doesn’t look anything like my community — can anything be done about that? There are two distinct legal protections here, and they address two different problems.

• The fair-cross-section requirement (the jury pool). The Sixth Amendment guarantees that the pool of potential jurors (the venire) is drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. This is about the larger pool, not the final twelve. If a distinctive group in the community is systematically underrepresented in the jury pool because of how jurors are selected or summoned, that can be challenged. The defense generally has to show the group is distinctive, that its representation in pools is not fair and reasonable relative to the community, and that the underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion in the selection process. It does not guarantee any particular makeup of your specific jury — it guarantees a fairly drawn pool.
• Batson challenges (striking individual jurors). Separately, under Batson v. Kentucky, neither side may use a peremptory strike to remove a juror because of race (later extended to ethnicity and gender). If, during jury selection, the prosecution strikes jurors of the defendant’s race, the defense can raise a Batson challenge on the spot. The process has three steps: the objecting side shows facts suggesting a discriminatory strike; the striking side must give a race-neutral reason; and the judge decides whether that reason is genuine or a pretext for discrimination. Striking even a single juror for a discriminatory reason can be a violation.

Minnesota takes this seriously. Jury selection and challenges are governed by the Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 26.02), and Minnesota has moved to strengthen its protections against discriminatory peremptory strikes in recent rule amendments — part of a broader national effort to make Batson’s promise more than theoretical. Because the racial composition of a jury and the use of strikes can be challenged in real time during selection, this is exactly the kind of issue where having an attorney watching the process closely matters — the objection generally has to be made then and there to preserve it.

Waiving a jury: choosing a bench trial

You can give up the jury and have your case decided by a judge alone — a bench trial. A jury waiver must be made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently, usually in writing or on the record, and the court must be satisfied you understand what you’re giving up. Why would anyone waive a jury? Sometimes the case turns on a technical legal issue a judge may evaluate more dispassionately, or the facts are emotionally charged in a way that could prejudice a jury. It is a strategic decision — not usually the default — and one to weigh carefully with your attorney.

Why the jury right matters to your defense

The jury right shapes the entire case. The unanimity requirement means the defense doesn’t necessarily have to convince twelve people of innocence — it needs to create reasonable doubt in the mind of even one. That reality affects strategy from voir dire through closing argument. The decision to take a case to a jury, and how to select and persuade that jury, is among the most consequential in any criminal case.

Related: Minnesota criminal hearings, including Omnibus, Rasmussen, Spreigl, and Florence hearings.