OH · rules
Ohio Crim.R. 31
Verdict
(A) Return
The verdict shall be unanimous. It shall be in writing, signed by all jurors concurring
therein, and returned by the jury to the judge in open court.
(B) Several defendants
If there are two or more defendants the jury at any time during its deliberations may return
a verdict or verdicts with respect to a defendant or defendants as to whom it has agreed. If
the jury cannot agree with respect to all, the defendant or defendant s as to whom it does
not agree may be tried again.
(C) Conviction of lesser offense
The defendant may be found not guilty of the offense charged but guilty of an attempt to
commit it if such an attempt is an offense at law. When the indictment, information, or
complaint charges an offense including degrees, or if lesser offenses are incl uded within
the offense charged, the defendant may be found not guilty of the degree charged but guilty
of an inferior degree thereof, or of a lesser included offense.
(D) Poll of jury
When a verdict is returned and before it is accepted the jury shall be polled at the request
of any party or upon the court's own motion. If upon the poll there is not unanimous
concurrence, the jury may be directed to retire for further deliberation or m ay be
discharged.
History
Effective Date: July 1, 1973 Staff Note (July 1, 2021 Amendment) Rule 31 Unanimous verdict While the rule in Ohio has been that a verdict in a criminal case must be unanimous pursuant to Crim R 31(A), it has become law across the United States. The United States Supreme Court ruled that a criminal jury verdict must be unanimous in Ramos v. Louisiana, 140 S. Ct. 1390 (2020), 2020 U.S. LEXIS 2407.
Provenance
- Source
- supremecourt.ohio.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-14
- Edition
- 2026-09-14
- Content hash
b02ea73944de77d4dfd68040ff3da083f84c8bf50d0cf49dfe40cb1d4c0ad10b
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.