9. Jury Trial Procedure
Absence, unrepresented defendants, abuse, evidence and legal rulings, no case, speeches, summing up and verdicts.
How to study for BSB Criminal Litigation
Prepare for a closed-book assessment by linking every power, gateway, burden, procedure and appellate route to its place in the criminal case.
Core concepts
Concept 1
The judge decides law and manages the trial; the jury determines disputed facts and applies the legal directions to reach its verdict.
Exam cue: Identify whether the issue belongs to judge, jury or both at different stages.
Concept 2
Abuse-of-process applications, admissibility rulings and no-case submissions are ordinarily resolved without the jury before the case proceeds.
Exam cue: Keep evidential admissibility, evidential sufficiency and the ultimate verdict as separate decisions.
Concept 3
The trial sequence includes prosecution evidence, any no-case ruling, defence case, speeches, summing up and unanimous or permitted majority verdicts.
Exam cue: For absence or an unrepresented defendant, analyse fairness and available safeguards.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Inviting the jury to decide whether disputed evidence is legally admissible.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Treating a no-case submission as a defence closing speech to the jury.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Assuming a majority verdict may be accepted immediately without the statutory conditions.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Memory anchors
Judge and jury
Judge rules on law and procedure; jury decides disputed facts and verdict.
Abuse of process
The judge may stay proceedings where a fair trial is impossible or prosecution would offend justice.
Galbraith
No case where there is no evidence or evidence is too weak for a properly directed jury safely to convict.
Summing up
Directions on law, issues and evidence must leave factual decisions to the jury.
Verdict route
Seek unanimity first; majority verdicts require the statutory waiting period and permitted numbers.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
In a Crown Court jury trial, who decides whether a confession is legally admissible?
Who decides whether the prosecution has proved disputed facts beyond reasonable doubt?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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