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Non-Unanimous Jury Verdicts In Serious Crime Cases Banned

2020

In a 6-3 ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the Constitution bans non-unanimous jury verdicts in cases involving serious crimes. The Court rules that the Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial implicitly requires a unanimous verdict and that the previously acknowledged need for jury consensus in federal trials applies equally to state courts through the 14th Amendment.