The State Supreme Court refused to allow the ban on non-unanimous jury verdicts be retroactive. The ruling denies new trials for as many as 15 hundred inmates convicted by divided jurors. Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolino said as a practical matter it’s an important decision.
“It’s a very important decision it means that more than 1,500 cases won’t have to be retried across the state so it certainly comes as a relief to district attorneys in all the judicial districts,” Ciolino.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to make non-unanimous verdicts retroactive two years ago which Ciolino said left advocates to appeal to the state’s highest court for those incarcerated by juries 10-2.
“And this court with only one justice dissenting and another judge partially dissenting found the matter of state constitutional law the federal decision requiring unanimity is not going to be applied retroactively,” said Ciolino.
Ciolino said when the law passed in the state legislature it specifically addressed that non-unanimous verdicts would not be retroactive, but said lawmakers are free to change that law.
“The governor is free to grant clemency to individuals who are in jail on 10-2 verdicts. This is a big loss to those who’d hope for some relief but it’s not the end of the road,” said Ciolino.
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