Jurors shall be permitted, but not required, to take notes. The notes may be used during the jury's deliberations and shall be treated as confidential between the juror making them and the other jurors. The notes shall not be preserved in any form. The trial judge shall ensure the confidentiality of the notes during the course of the trial and the jury's deliberations and shall instruct the bailiff to immediately mutilate and destroy such notes upon return of the verdict.
§ 25-1107.01.Jurors; permitted to take notes; use; destruction.
Article 11: Trial · Last amended 2020 · Last verified July 22, 2026
In one sentenceThis section lets jurors take notes during trial without requiring it, allows those notes to be used during deliberations, treats them as confidential within the jury, and requires the bailiff to destroy them immediately after the verdict is returned.
Full Text of § 25-1107.01
Source
Laws 2008, LB1014, § 71; Laws 2020, LB387, § 37.
Plain-English Summary
Section 25-1107.01 addresses a practical question trial courts face constantly: can jurors write things down? The answer is yes, but it is a choice, not an obligation — jurors are permitted, not required, to take notes. Those notes can then be used during the jury’s deliberations, giving jurors a way to check their memory of the testimony against what a fellow juror recorded.
The section treats juror notes as confidential between the note-taker and the other jurors, meaning the notes stay inside the jury room rather than becoming something parties, lawyers, or the public can see. The trial judge carries the duty of protecting that confidentiality throughout the trial and the deliberations.
The notes do not survive the case. As soon as the jury returns its verdict, the trial judge must instruct the bailiff to mutilate and destroy the notes immediately, and the section states outright that the notes shall not be preserved in any form. That destruction requirement keeps juror notes from lingering as an unofficial, unreliable substitute for the trial record, and it keeps them out of any later dispute about what a juror privately wrote down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Nebraska jurors required to take notes during trial?
No. Section 25-1107.01 permits note-taking but does not require it. Whether to take notes is left to each juror.
Can attorneys or the parties see a juror’s notes?
No. The notes are treated as confidential between the juror who wrote them and the other jurors, and the trial judge is responsible for protecting that confidentiality.
What happens to juror notes after the verdict is returned?
The trial judge instructs the bailiff to mutilate and destroy the notes immediately upon return of the verdict. The section specifies that the notes are not preserved in any form.
Can jurors share their notes with each other during deliberations?
Yes. The notes may be used during deliberations, and the confidentiality described in the section runs between the note-taking juror and the rest of the jury, not among the jurors themselves.
Can a juror’s notes later be used as grounds for appeal?
The section requires the notes to be destroyed right after the verdict and states they are not preserved in any form, which leaves no surviving record of them for later use.
Source & verification. Section text and the amendment-history citation are
reproduced verbatim from the Nebraska Legislature, Revisor of Statutes, enacted by the
Nebraska Legislature. Last verified July 22, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: can jurors take notes in nebraska trialjuror note-taking rulesjury notes confidentiality and destruction25-1107.01 nebraska statutewhat happens to jury notes after the verdict