19.2-262 - Waiver of jury trial; numbers of jurors in criminal cases; how jurors selected from panel.
§ 19.2-262. Waiver of jury trial; numbers of jurors in criminal cases; howjurors selected from panel.
A. In any criminal case in which trial by jury is dispensed with as providedby law, the whole matter of law and fact shall be heard and judgment given bythe court. In appeals from juvenile and domestic relations district courts,the infant, through his guardian ad litem or counsel, may waive a jury.
B. Twelve persons from a panel of not less than 20 shall constitute a jury ina felony case. Seven persons from a panel of not less than 13 shallconstitute a jury in a misdemeanor case.
C. The parties or their counsel, beginning with the attorney for theCommonwealth, shall alternately strike off one name from the panel until thenumber remaining shall be reduced to the number required for a jury.
D. In any case in which persons indicted for felony are tried jointly, ifcounsel or the accused are unable to agree on the full number to be stricken,or, if for any other reason counsel or the accused fail or refuse to strikeoff the full number of jurors allowed such party, the clerk shall place in abox ballots bearing the names of the jurors whose names have not beenstricken and shall cause to be drawn from the box such number of ballots asmay be necessary to complete the number of strikes allowed the party orparties failing or refusing to strike. Thereafter, if the opposing side isentitled to further strikes, they shall be made in the usual manner.
(Code 1950, § 8-208.21; 1973, c. 439; 1974, c. 611; 1975, cc. 495, 578; 1979,c. 230; 1997, cc. 516, 518; 2005, c. 356.)