Brief filed: 12/23/2010
Documents
Barbour v. Louisiana
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 10-689
Prior Decision
Decision below 35 So.3d 1142 (La.App. 2010).
Argument(s)
Non-unanimous verdicts significantly undermine the administration of criminal justice. Rules permitting non-unanimous verdicts have increased the risk of error and unfairness. Because cases presenting these concerns are numerous and recurring, the constitutionality of divided criminal verdicts and the correctness of the Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404 (1972), in which the Court held that the Sixth Amendment does not entitle criminal defendants to a unanimous jury verdict in state court, warrant the Court’s reconsideration.
Author(s)
Jonathan L. Marcus, Elizabeth-Ann D. Katz, and Matthew S. Krauss, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC.
