History Main / RogueJuror

Sometimes another main character is on the jury as well and tries to change the Rogue Juror's mind. More commonly, the Rogue Juror will manage to gradually bring the rest of the jurors around to his/her view. Occasionally this will be subverted by having the defendant turn out to actually be guilty.

[[quoteright:345:[[Creator/NormanRockwell https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/61050_6508.jpg]]]]

* On ''Series/HappyDays'', Fonzie uses his knowledge of motorcycles to prove the defendant's innocence to Howard and the other jurors.
** Like the ''All in the Family'' example above, this episode has racism as a central point of the plot. At the end, the grateful defendant who was found not guilty (a black man) hugs the racist juror when he thanks him for serving on the jury.

* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''Film/TheRunawayJury'': the RogueJuror's task was simply to make the other jurors follow their own predilections rather than actively changing their minds.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** The ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'' storyline "Cold Days" has Bruce, questioning himself in the wake of his aborted wedding, arrange to be on the jury for Mr Freeze's trial, where he's the only juror asking hard questions about Batman's involvement, and asking if being a supervillain is necessarily evidence that Freeze is guilty of this particular crime.

** The ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'' storyline "Cold Days" has Bruce, questioning himself in the wake of his aborted wedding, arrange to be on the jury for Mr Freeze's trial, where he's the only juror asking hard questions about Batman's involvement, and asking if being a supervillain is necessarily evidence that Feeze is guilty of this particular crime.

** The ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'' storyline "Cold Days" has Bruce, questioning himself in the wake of his aborted wedding, arrange to be on the jury for Mr Freeze's trial, where he's the only juror asking hard questions about Batman's involvement.

* A ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic once had Bruce Wayne selected to sit on the jury of a man whom he, as Batman, had arrested trying to kidnap a wealthy couple's baby. As the rest of the jury were taken in by the defendant's innocent act, he had to convince them that the defendant was actually ''guilty''. Contained an amusing moment where Bruce, honestly answering a jury selection question about whether he was fit to sit on the jury, [[SarcasticConfession confessed]] that he was prejudiced about the case because he was actually Batman — and after everyone stopped laughing, the judge told him to stop jerking around and take things seriously.

* Claire Greene was this in an episode of ''Promised Land'', wanting to acquit a young woman charged with criminally negligent homicide (her son had wandered out into the street while she was asleep and been hit by a car). With every argument she made, she managed to convince other jurors of the woman's innocence. Unusually for this trope, she turned out to be ''wrong''--only after the trial did she learn that the woman had been arrested for child endangerment ''three'' times prior to this incident and that contrary to the MarySue image she'd presented in court, she'd returned to the irresponsible behavior that led to her son's death and was now jeopardizing her daughter.

Note that in many jurisdictions, a unanimous jury verdict is not required either to convict or acquit. However, unanimity is a characteristic of the English judicial system and many of its former colonies such as the United States (the modern UK and US also don't always require it though). Outside those countries, a rogue juror's objection would be futile.

* On ''Series/TheOddCouple1970'' Felix and Oscar tell the Pigeon sisters how they met during jury duty, with Felix in the rogue juror role. Though the defendant was innocent, he was, after the trial, driven to actually commit the violent assault he had been falsely accused of after being trapped in an elevator with Felix. Interestingly, Jack Klugman [[ActorAllusion had played a juror]] in the original ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' movie (and Jack Lemmon, who played Felix in the 1967 film version, went on to play the rogue in the 1997 ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' remake, an odd bit of synchronicity).

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[[caption-width-right:320:Hazing the holdout, [[GoodSmokingEvilSmoking quite literally so.]]]]

Note that in many jurisdictions, a unanimous jury verdict is not required to convict or acquit. However, unanimity is a characteristic of the English judicial system and many of its former colonies such as the United States (the modern UK and US also don't always require it though). Outside those countries, a rogue juror's objection would be futile.

Sometimes another main character is on the jury as well, and tries to change the Rogue Juror's mind. More commonly, the Rogue Juror will manage to gradually bring the rest of the jurors around to his/her view. Occasionally this will be subverted by having the defendant turn out to actually be guilty.

This is a common template for a CourtroomEpisode, and frequently turns up in {{Sitcom}}s. Very likely to involve a ShoutOut, if not a WholePlotReference, to ''Film/TwelveAngryMen''.

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* Pavel Young's court martial in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novel ''Field of Dishonor'' has White Haven (the senior admiral of the panel) accuse ''half of the members'' of acting like this for political reasons, at which point the lowest ranking officer there turns around and accuses him right back. Eventually, one of the dissenting admirals negotiates a political compromise and agrees to vote with White Haven (breaking the deadlock 4-2) to convict on the lesser charges, provided they remain hung on the capital ones, resulting in Young's dishonorable discharge and setting the stage for the second half of the book. The other two never change their votes. Though since it's a military tribunal, the simple majority is enough.

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* Played fairly straight in ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' when Aunt Bea is a holdout for a not guilty verdict, but is completely inarticulate about why. She merely keeps insisting that she doesn't think the accused is guilty, and winds up hanging the jury. As the court is preparing for another trial, Sheriff Taylor discovers that the real perpetrator was watching the trial from the gallery, and arrests him.

* Subverted in ''Series/PeepShow'', in which Jez starts dating the defendant and convinces the fellow jury members that she is innocent, but after discovering that she actually gets into fights for fun, he decides he doesn't want to go out with her any more and convinces them back to the guilty verdict... Double subverted in fact in that the defendant really is innocent of that specific crime, but has committed several more along the same lines and got away with it.
---> '''Jez:''' Justice has been served... well, not actual justice. But what I wanted to happen. Which is pretty much the same thing.

* Subverted in one episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', Jessica is forewoman in a murder trial and is the sole juror to think a certain way, but rather than all of them being certain but her being certain the opposite way, nine of the othe jurors want to find the man innocent and two think he's guilty. But she's undecided, and rather than declare a mistrial asks them to take some time to review the facts. In an additional subversion [[spoiler:the jury acquits, because while the defendant did commit murder (disguised as an accident), he is not guilty of ''the murder he's on trial for,'' and convicting would've allowed the real killer to go free]].

* ''Series/LasVegas'': Ed Deline, a casino security expert, plays this role in "Tainted Love". He's called for jury duty, but before the deliberation by the jury even begins, he already openly notes many discrepancies in the prosecution's case (for which he is almost held in contempt of court), and even investigates the case himself during his off-time (note that doing this -- even by so much as looking up the legal definitions of the charges -- is illegal). He discovers that the suspect is innocent, but the judge orders him not to use any of the new evidence that he obtained in his judgment. So instead he proves to the other jurors that the guy is innocent by noting that he is left-handed, while the real perpetrator would have to be right-handed to commit the crime the way the photos show. He tells his wife the reason why he went out of his way to help the kid; when Ed was a teenager, he was caught for stealing hubcaps. Even though he actually committed the crime, a single juror simply refused to find him guilty because he wanted to give Ed a second chance.

* ''Series/ForThePeople'': When Judge Byrne is called for jury duty and gets selected (the defense lawyer didn't even pay attention to his responses) he's delighted at the idea of seeing the criminal justice system by another angle. He soon becomes the lone holdout when the rest of the jury votes "guilty" though. After his attempting to explain why the prosecution didn't prove the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, he gets them to understand even so. They come around to his view and acquit. Unlike in most examples, he admits that most likely the defendant is guilty, but since the prosecution didn't prove it, he should go free.

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* One episode of ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'' had Eugene on jury duty refusing to convict the defendant until after they discussed the evidence to be sure. The defendant is accused of breaking into a house and robbing its vault, but claims that he only broke into the house to be admitted into a gang and they framed him for the robbery. The jury eventually agrees that he is telling the truth because he would not have had enough time to break into the vault during the times between when he was seen on the day the crime took place.

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[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Homer votes "not guilty" just to deadlock the jury, because he's enticed by the notion of being sequestered in a free hotel room with free food, free HBO, a free swimming pool and Film/FreeWilly. It's just coincidence that the defendant was actually innocent.

[[folder:RealLife]]

* On ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' Felix and Oscar tell the Pigeon sisters how they met during jury duty, with Felix in the rogue juror role. Though the defendant was innocent, he was, after the trial, driven to actually commit the violent assault he had been falsely accused of after being trapped in an elevator with Felix. Interestingly, Jack Klugman [[ActorAllusion had played a juror]] in the original ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' movie (and Jack Lemmon, who played Felix in the 1967 film version, went on to play the rogue in the 1997 ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' remake, an odd bit of synchronicity).

* In the Margaret Rutherford ''Literature/MissMarple'' film ''Murder Most Foul'', Miss Marple is the only juror who believes a suspect is innocent and causes a hung jury. She then goes to examine the case herself.

* Sen-Subverted in one episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', Jessica is forewoman in a murder trial and is the sole juror to think a certain way, but rather than all of them being certain but her being certain the opposite way, nine of the othe jurors want to find the man innocent and two think he's guilty. But she's undecided, and rather than declare a mistrial asks them to take some time to review the facts. In an additional subversion [[spoiler:the jury acquits, because while the defendant did commit murder (disguised as an accident), he is not guilty of ''the murder he's on trial for,'' and convicting would've allowed the real killer to go free]].

* Sen-Subverted in one episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', Jessica is forewoman in a murder trial and is the sole juror to think a certain way, but she's undecided rathe, while nine out of eleven of whom want to find the man innocent and two think he's guilty. But she's undecided, while Nine of her fellow jurors are generally sure that the defendant is innocent and two think he's guilty, while Jessica is undecided and rather than declare a mistrial asks them to take some time to review the facts. In an additional subversion [[spoiler:the jury acquits, because while the defendant did commit murder (disguised as an accident), he is not guilty of ''the murder he's on trial for,'' and convicting would've allowed the real killer to go free]].

* The TropeCodifier is ''Film/TwelveAngryMen''. A rogue juror (#8) is the sole holdout [[NotablyQuickDeliberation on a case which appears to indicate]] that the accused is definitely a murderer. However, as the jury is forced to analyze the evidence in detail, they slowly discover that almost all of it is flawed in some way. Worth noting that, unlike some other examples, the rogue juror isn't convinced of the suspect's innocence either; he just wants to make sure they've done their job properly, as the accused is facing a mandatory death sentence. It leaves the question of the suspect's guilt or innocence ambiguous in the end. However, because there was reasonable doubt, a verdict of "not guilty" is appropriate.[[note]]Interestingly, while #8 is trying to get everyone else to do their job properly, he is not. Conducting your own investigation and bringing a weapon into the jury room are both serious juror misconduct. This leads to a bit of ValuesDissonance between laypeople and legal professionals watching the same film[=/=]play.[[/note]] Towards the end of the film, Juror #3 becomes this for the other side, after all the other jurors have decided there's enough doubt that they can't justify a guilty verdict.
** The film has been remade several times and even has foreign adaptations. The Chinese adaptation is specifically framed as a Western-style mock trial, as China doesn't have jury trials (at least not even close to what the US has), and the film ends with a moral that the Chinese system is better. The Russian adaptation is pretty faithful, except it ignores one crucial difference in jurisprudence: in Russian jury trials, a jury only has to deliver a unanimous verdict during the first 3 hours of deliberation. After that, a majority verdict is sufficient, so it at least 7 jurors still voted guilty, that would have been the verdict.

* How the movie ''Film/ErnestGoesToJail'' starts out. A henchman of bank robber Felix Nash realizes that one of the jurors on his murder trial, [[Film/ErnestPWorrell Ernest P. Worrell]], looks exactly like his boss. He arranges for the jurors to visit the prison where the crime was committed, after which Nash knocks out Ernest and changes places. After that, Nash insists on finding his henchman innocent, keeping the henchman from getting his sentence upped to life, and then Nash walks out of the courthouse a free man, leaving Ernest in jail to serve out Nash's sentence (of death).

* In US jurisdictions where the sentence to be imposed also has to be determined by jury (generally only in cases where capital punishment may apply), that determination must also be unanimous; any dissent usually means life without parole for the convicted person.

* In ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', Atticus Finch's beliefs and [[ShamingTheMob Scout's actions]] caused one of the jurors to greatly lengthen the process of the trial of a black man that Atticus was defending. The man was eventually found guilty because the rogue had no chance of convincing the other jurors of changing their minds. It is reasonable to assume that the rogue [[JuryAndWitnessTampering may have gotten death threats]].

* In real life, some trials can be forced to be retried if even one out of the twelve dissents. This has led to majority verdicts (in England, 10-2) in some countries and American states to solve this problem (though in the US it is limited to some states and usually only for minor crimes).

* In one episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', Jessica is forewoman in a murder trial. Her fellow jurors are generally sure that the defendant is guilty, while Jessica asks them to take some time to review the facts. In a semi-subversion of the usual plot, [[spoiler:the jury acquits, because while the defendant did commit murder (disguised as an accident), he is not guilty of ''the murder he's on trial for,'' and convicting would've allowed the real killer to go free]].

* Though it's never actually shown onscreen, several episodes of the various ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' incarnations mention this as having happened with the jury in the case of the week.

* ''Series/MacGyver'' used this trope in one episode. Mac goes so far as to break sequester and sneak out to the crime scene to gather evidence himself. Of course, in the real world, that would get you a sentence for contempt of court and the trial itself would be declared a mistrial, but real life never gets in the way of TV justice.

** The film has been remade several times and even has foreign adaptations. The Chinese adaptation is specifically framed as a mock trial, as China doesn't have jury trials (at least not even close to what the US has), and the film ends with a moral that the Chinese system is better. The Russian adaptation is pretty faithful, except it ignores one crucial difference in jurisprudence: in Russian jury trials, a jury only has to deliver a unanimous verdict during the first 3 hours of deliberation. After that, a majority verdict is sufficient, so it at least 7 jurors still voted guilty, that would have been the verdict.

* One episode of the live-action ''Series/{{Batman}}'' show had Batman (for some unexplained reason -- he might know a lot about the law, but he never took the bar exam, nor does he work for the D.A.'s office) acting as the prosecutor in a trial against Joker and Catwoman. The whole jury voted not guilty despite the evidence, at which point Robin realized that Joker's lawyer had managed to get the entire jury filled with ex-henchmen of the two criminals. Batman and Robin beat up the crooks, and the trial gets redone. This ignores the fact that both sides of a judicial case are supposed to be screening the jury to ensure that the jurors aren't prejudiced ''before'' the trial even begins, and a provable close association with the defendants is an automatic disqualification.