# Partial Verdict? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007 "2018-08-21T20:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007/1 "2018-08-21T20:47:13Z")
What happens when a person is accused of multiple crimes and the jury returns verdicts on some but not all of them? Are those verdicts accepted and the rest retried? Does the whole thing go back for a second trial? Are the questionable ones forgotten? An inquiring mind wants to know! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007/2 "2018-08-21T20:54:06Z")
Each charge is separate. If a jury finds you guilty of mopery, not guilty of dopery, and they can’t make up their mind on the loitering with intent, then you get whatever the sentence is for mopery, you don’t get the sentence for dopery, and the prosecution can choose to retry you for the loitering with intent. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007/3 "2018-08-21T20:55:06Z")
The returned verdicts (guilty or not guilty) stand. The defendant may appeal any guilty verdicts. On the other hand, prosecutors cannot retry a defendant who is found not guilty of any particular crimes. Prosecutors may choose to retry the charges that resulted in a hung jury. Sometimes, prosecutors will decide that they are no more likely to prevail in a second trial than they were in the first, so they will elect to just drop the remaining charges. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007/4 "2018-08-22T04:36:22Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > Prosecutors may choose to retry the charges that resulted in a hung jury. Sometimes, prosecutors will decide that they are no more likely to prevail in a second trial than they were in the first, so they will elect to just drop the remaining charges. Also, prosecutors may decide that the guilty verdicts on the first 8 charges carry enough sentences that it isn’t worth a new trial on the deadlocked ones. Sometimes prosecutors will offer a plea deal on these others, instead of another trial – plead guilty on them, and we will agree to only seek X additional sentence (maybe none) for them. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-verdict/820007/5 "2018-08-22T04:57:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Each charge is separate. If a jury finds you guilty of mopery, not guilty of dopery, and they can’t make up their mind on the loitering with intent, then you get whatever the sentence is for mopery, you don’t get the sentence for dopery, and the prosecution can choose to retry you for the loitering with intent. And the court is actually allowed to take “[acquitted conduct](http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/10/the-jury-acquits-the-judge-still-sentences-can-that-be/)” into consideration when deciding on the sentence, so you might end up effectively doing time for dopery anyways: > [@](#): > > The jury in the case of three Washington, D.C., men found them not guilty of a conspiracy to run an “open air” market for large quantities of illegal drugs on the streets of the nation’s capital, but it did find them guilty only of selling small quantities. If the sentencing had followed those results, the three men would have faced sentences under federal guidelines of between thirty-three and seventy-one months. > > The judge, however, decided that sentencing could also take into account the conduct that had led to the more serious conspiracy charge (the so-called “acquitted conduct”) and opted to give the three men sentences ranging from 180 to 225 months. They argued unsuccessfully, in a federal appeals court, that the longer sentences violated their Sixth Amendment right to have a jury decide the issue of guilt. The judge, in essence, convicted them of the more serious offense, too, despite the jury’s contrary verdict.