Ramos v. Louisiana and the Jim Crow Origins of Nonunanimous Juries

Ramos v. Louisiana, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court last Monday and summarized here, holds that the Sixth Amendment impartial jury guarantee gives defendants a right to a unanimous jury verdict in state trials. The case is making waves for reasons tangential to the dispute between the parties: in a dizzyingly split opinion, the justices argue more over the meaning of stare decisis (the court’s obligation to follow its prior holdings) than whether defendants in state courts may be convicted by a less-than-unanimous jury. This aspect of the opinion has been widely discussed (see analysis here, here, here, and here), and foreshadows the justices’ likely battle over an upcoming reproductive rights case. Since the divergent perspectives on stare decisis have been covered elsewhere, I will consider another issue that split the justices: the legal relevance of the nonunanimous jury law’s Jim Crow origins. First, a pop quiz Did North Carolina ever allow non unanimous jury verdicts in criminal trials? Read on for the answer. The facts and procedural history of the case Evangelisto Ramos was charged with a second-degree murder in New Orleans in 2014. He maintained his innocence and invoked his right to a jury trial. At the conclusion of the trial, ten jurors found Mr. Ramos guilty and two jurors found him not guilty. In the 48 states (including North Carolina) and federal court where all jurors must agree on a guilty verdict to convict a defendant, this would have resulted in a hung jury and a mistrial. Instead, [...]