US ruling requires unanimity for guilt of serious crime

A constitutional guarantee in the USA requires a unanimous jury verdict to convict of serious crimes, the US Supreme Court has ruled.

Majority verdicts have been permitted only in Louisiana (which recently changed the law to prohibit therm) and Oregon, and the court ruled in favour of Evangelisto Ramos of Louisiana, convicted of a 2014 murder by a 10-2 majority and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Overruling a 1972 Supreme Court decision, the court has opened the possibility of hundreds of convicted accused receiving a new trial.

The decision itself was however by a six to three majority. Delivering the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated that where majority verdicts had been allowed, this dated from racist policies in the past that had been aimed at reducing the ability of non-white jurors to influence the outcome of trials.

The Sixth Amendment to the US constitution guarantees the right to an impartial trial, and the court ruled that this requires that jurors be unanimous in convicting of "felony" offences. The amendment derived from the English common law, which required a unanimous jury, and if it applied in the federal courts it had equally to apply in the state courts.

Click here to view the court's decision.