A jury can return a majority verdict in a murder case, which can result in an acquittal or a conviction.

A fan of entertainer Vybz Kartel, who is on trial in the Home Circuit Court for murder, asked last week if the jurors trying the case will have to return a majority verdict.

Kartel and his co-accused are being tried for murder, but the nature of the crime does not attract the death penalty. Majority verdicts must be given in cases of treason, or murder cases, which attract the death penalty.

The judge, in his summation to the jury, had pointed out that there were only two verdicts open to them based on the evidence and it was guilty of murder or not guilty of murder.

According to the prosecution's case, the men allegedly beat Clive 'Lizard', Williams of Waterford, St Catherine, to death, reportedly at Kartel's Havendale home, St Andrew, on August 15, 2011.

The prosecution is not asking for the death penalty because the circumstances of the offence does not attract such a sentence.

The Jury Act was amended in 2010, paving the way for majority verdicts for certain categories of murder. The law allows for 12 persons to try a murder case and return a majority verdict.

There were numerous complaints that there had to be so many retrials because juries had failed to return unanimous verdicts. It was reported that the amendment was intended to improve efficiency in the court system and result in fewer hung juries, thereby reducing the need for retrials.

The amendment to the Act makes provision for a majority verdict of not less than nine jurors.

Section 31 of the Jury Act states, in part, that there should be "a verdict of not less than nine jurors of conviction or acquittal for murder".

There are 11 jurors trying the Kartel case and there will still have to be a majority of nine verdicts for conviction or acquittal.