JURY TRIAL, EVIDENCE, CLEMENCY AND APPEAL: CRITIQUE OF THE THESIS ESTABLISHED BY THE FEDERAL SUPREME COURT

Abstract

This article aims to promote a critical analysis of the decision rendered by the Federal Supreme Court in the judgment of Theme 1,087 of its general repercussion. To this end, it discusses the foundations of the jury trial within the Brazilian legal system. The central objective of the article was to examine this conflict and propose a way to reconcile the admissibility of an appeal filed against a decision of the jury council that a party considers manifestly contrary to the evidence contained in the records (Article 593, III, “d”, of the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure) with the sovereignty of jury verdicts established in Article 5, XXXVIII, of the Constitution of the Republic. For this purpose, an analysis was conducted of what is understood as evidence and its object within judicial proceedings. Finally, the paper presents a position dissenting from that adopted by the Federal Supreme Court regarding the admissibility of an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against an acquittal rendered by the jury court in cases involving the acceptance of the mercy thesis.