Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Nonunanimous juries:
[1]Slate's Explainer has a nice item explaining nonunanimous criminal
juries, which have indeed been held to be constitutional. I'd just add
two small items:
1. The Sixth Amendment has been read as mandating unanimous juries in
federal courts, though not state courts (one of the relatively few
ways in which the Bill of Rights has been seen as applying
differently to state governments via the Fourteenth Amendment than
to the federal government). See Justice Powell's separate
concurrence in [2]Apodaca v. Oregon, which was the controlling
opinion on this question.
2. Even in state court, unanimity is required if a state uses
6-person juries. See [3]Burch v. Louisiana. Six angry men (out of
six) are enough, but five won't do.
References
1. http://slate.com/id/2105035/
2. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=406&invol=404
3. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=441&invol=130
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