Burch v. Louisiana

1979-04-17

Headline: Court holds nonunanimous six-person juries unconstitutional for nonpetty state crimes, overturning a 5–1 conviction in Louisiana and requiring unanimous six-member verdicts in similar cases.

Holding: The Court held that convicting someone of a nonpetty state crime by a nonunanimous six-person jury violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment right to trial by jury, reversing the 5–1 conviction and requiring unanimous six-member verdicts.

Real World Impact:

Requires unanimous verdicts from six-person juries in nonpetty state criminal trials.
Reverses a 5–1 conviction and allows retrial under the unanimous-jury rule.
Limits states’ ability to use nonunanimous six-member jury verdicts.

Topics: jury size, jury unanimity, criminal trials, state trial rules

Summary

Background

An individual and a Louisiana corporation were charged with showing two allegedly obscene movies. Under Louisiana law, their cases were tried by six-person juries that allow conviction if five jurors agree. The jury that tried the individual returned a 5–1 guilty vote; the corporation’s jury was unanimous. The individual received suspended prison terms and a fine; the corporation was fined.

Reasoning

The Court examined earlier decisions about jury size and unanimity and asked whether a nonunanimous six-person jury still protects the accused as the Constitution guarantees. It compared past rulings that allowed smaller juries or nonunanimous verdicts in larger juries, but found that letting five of six jurors decide guilt threatens the jury’s role as a community check on government power. The Court concluded that a six-member jury must reach a unanimous verdict in trials for offenses that can carry more than six months’ imprisonment. On that basis the Court reversed the individual’s 5–1 conviction and affirmed the corporation’s unanimous conviction.

Real world impact

States that use six-person juries for nonpetty crimes must require unanimous verdicts from those juries. The Court noted that only a very small number of States permitted nonunanimous six-member verdicts, and it refused to accept the State’s efficiency argument as sufficient to override the constitutional guarantee. The case was sent back to the Louisiana Supreme Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, and the individual may be retried under the unanimity rule.

Dissents or concurrances

One Justice joined the opinion; another agreed the 5–1 conviction must be reversed but would also have reversed the corporation’s conviction because he viewed the obscenity statute as unconstitutional on its face.