Reply #14: As I understand it, the judge can issue a "directed verdict" -- overturning a jury's verdict

[Bucky]

Of course the burden then is on the judge to prove that the jury's verdict was not made in accordance with the facts in the case, or on a particular point of law. It's subject to a hell of a lot of review by higher courts most of the time, but certainly a few slip between the cracks. I think I recall that it's valid only for turning a guilty verdict into not guilty, but not the other way around, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Rules for such a maneuver would vary from state to state, also.

This would be applied in either civil or criminal cases.