<P> Those who wrote our constitutions knew from history and experience that it was necessary to protect against unfounded criminal charges brought to eliminate enemies and against judges too responsive to the voice of higher authority . The framers of the constitutions strove to create an independent judiciary but insisted upon further protection against arbitrary action . Providing an accused with the right trial by a jury of his peers gave him an inestimable safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge . </P> <P> A grand jury decides whether or not there is enough evidence ("probable cause") that a person has committed a crime in order to put him or her on trial . If a grand jury decides there is enough evidence, the person is indicted . A grand jury has 16 - 23 members, and its proceedings are not open to the public . Unlike a petit jury, defendants and their attorneys do not have the right to appear before the grand jury . </P> <P> A petit jury, also known as a trial jury, is the standard type of jury used in criminal cases in the United States . Petit juries are responsible for deciding whether or not a defendant is guilty of violating the law in a specific case . They consist of 6 - 12 people and their deliberations are private . Their decision is known as a verdict and decides whether a person is guilty or not guilty . </P> <P> Currently in the United States every person accused of a crime punishable by incarceration for more than six months has a constitutional right to a trial by jury, which arises in federal court from the Sixth Amendment, the Seventh Amendment, and Article Three of the United States Constitution, which states in part, "The Trial of all Crimes...shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed". Most states' constitutions also grant the right of trial by jury in lesser criminal matters, though most have eliminated that right in offenses punishable by fine only . The Supreme Court has ruled that if imprisonment is for six months or less, trial by jury is not required, meaning a state may choose whether or not to permit trial by jury in such cases . </P>

How many jurors in a criminal case in ny