Bill requiring unanimous jury verdicts in felony cases heads to full House

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A bill requiring unanimous verdicts in felony cases continues to make its way through the legislature following a Louisiana House committee decision last week to send the bill to the full House for a vote.
If approved by a two-thirds majority, the measure would then have to pass the Senate before being placed on a ballot for the voters of La. to consider amending the constitution this fall.
Currently, La. law only requires 10 out of 12 jurors to decide whether a defendant is guilty. If the law is changed, all 12 jurors would have to agree for a conviction. La. is one of only two states, the other being Oregon, that allow verdicts by split juries.
The Advocate reported that “proponents of getting rid of the split-verdict rule cited both its shameful origins in the Jim Crow era and its departure from what is seen by many as a cornerstone of the American legal system — that the unanimity of a jury is a key protection against the tyranny of the state.”
During the House committee meeting on Wednesday, April 25th, former district attorney of Grant Parish, Ed Tarpley, said, “It’s a precious right. The jury stands between the people and the government. It’s the unanimous jury of 12 citizens that makes a decision about whether to deprive someone of their liberty. It’s a powerful protection we have in our government.”
Although the bill was passed by the House committee, it did face some opposition.
According to The Advocate, “two district attorneys from the western part of the state - Don Burkett of Sabine Parish and John DeRosier of Calcasieu Parish - urged the committee to vote the bill down.”
The Advocate stated that “Burkett said that nearly all of the 43 district attorneys in the state oppose the measure, even though the politically powerful Louisiana District Attorneys Association is officially neutral on the matter.” The Baton Rouge newspaper went on to state that Burkett said “the organization - which had opposed the change as recently as last month - tends not to take a position if all members can’t agree.”
During the committee meeting, both Burkett and DeRosier “argued that its very difficult to get 12 people to agree on a verdict, even in an open and shut case.”
Burkett estimated that “40 percent of the hundreds of trial convictions he has racked up over three decades were delivered by split juries.”
The two prosecutors, according to The Advocate, “complained that with a requirement of unanimity, holdout jurors would make the delivery of justice nearly impossible, and they urged the committee to think about the victims of crime rather than defendants.”
The prosecutors’ arguments however, couldn’t sway the committee to reject the bill, which ultimately was passed unanimously.