Louisianans to Vote on Non-Unanimous Juries

The Louisiana Law that allows juries to convict people based on non-unanimous jury verdicts will go directly to referendum, after the state House of Representatives voted to propose a constitutional amendment to end the practice on the November 6th ballot. 

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that the vote drew applause from the House chamber in what it called an “improbable roll through the Legislature for a bill that was viewed as a Hail Mary when Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, introduced it in early March. 

PJI’s Light of Justice Project Director, Calvin Duncan, maintains of the current law that “the racial intent of it never went away. That’s still there. The intent was to make sure African-American votes are not counted. 

Louisiana now has a chance to demand equality for all citizens by rolling back this law.