Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 10/21/19: Non-Unanimous Felony Verdicts

Only one state, Oregon, allows for non-unanimous verdicts for non-homicide felonies, allowing conviction on a 10-2 or 11-1 vote. A bill that would have brought this to a public referendum was not passed by the state legislature. The Supreme Court will take up the issue in its 2019-2020 term, deciding a Louisiana case (Ramos v. Louisiana) that involves a split verdict in a murder case that occurred in 2016. Louisiana had abolished the practice in the fall of 2018 via public referendum but it does not apply retroactively.

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