In a surprising ruling, the Louisiana Supreme Court has said the United State Supreme Court ruling doing away with non-unanimous jury decision is not retroactive. This means as many as 1500 people currently doing time in prison convicted by divided juries may not get a new trial.
The decision was rendered on a 6-1 vote with the courts only African American jurist, Piper Griffin, voting in dissent.
The U.S. Supreme Court had thrown out non-unanimous jury trials in Oregon and Louisiana two years ago in Ramos v. Louisiana, but refused to make the ruling retroactive in cases where the defendant had exhausted appeals.
This means some defendants convicted on 10-2 or 11-1 verdicts could be caught without a way forward to a new trial.
Friday’s ruling refuses to go further than the U.S. Supreme Court required.
"We decline to act as a super-legislature by issuing a broader retroactivity approach than that approved by the voters of Louisiana, who amended the Constitution with prospective effect only," Crichton was quoted in the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. "We expressly note that the Legislature may determine that a broader subset of individuals are eligible for post-conviction relief. Likewise, the Governor has the power in individual cases to grant clemency under our state Constitution."
