Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino
The US Supreme Court rules all felony trials must be decided by a unanimous jury verdict, a decision likely to result in dozens of retrials in Louisiana.
In 2018 Louisiana passed a constitutional amendment ending its practice of allowing non-unanimous verdicts, but Loyola Law Professor Dane Ciolino says the amendment was not retroactive.
“Certainly dozens if not hundreds of cases are on direct review. Those cases are going to get looked at and the defendants are going to get new trials,” says Ciolino.
After the amendment passed Oregon remained the only state not to require unanimous jury verdicts.
There are likely hundreds of people incarcerated in Louisiana due to non-unanimous verdicts whose cases are decided and whose appeals are done. Ciolino says for them.
“Whether they are going to get a new trial is something that the (US) Supreme Court says they are going to decide on another day,” says Ciolino.
The decision will likely result in some high-profile retrials. Ciolino says one of those will likely be for Ronald Glasser who was convicted of murdering NFL running back Joe McKnight in 2016.
“His case is currently pending before the Louisiana Supreme Court and the Supreme Court can fairly quickly decide whether this opinion gives him the right to a new trial,” says Ciolino.
The 6-3 ruling came as a result of an appeal by Evangelisto Ramos, who was found guilty of killing a woman in New Orleans in 2014. Ramos was found guilty of second-degree murder on a 10-2 vote and appealed his case on constitutional grounds. Criminal Justice Reform advocates pointed to issues in Ramos’ trail and used his incarceration as evidence that unanimous jury verdicts should not only be outlawed but also that those convicted on non-unanimous verdicts should be given a retrial.
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