RETROACTIVE RULING? - Yesterday, the Louisiana Supreme Court agreed to consider if a ban on non-unanimous jury verdicts would apply retroactively under the state constitution. Their decision could affect more than 1,500 Louisiana inmates. This comes about as the court considers a case of a man convicted of murder and sentenced to life by a split jury decision for a 1993 slaying in Plaquemines Parish. Back then Reginald Reddick was convicted by a 10-to-2 jury decision that the Louisiana Constitution no longer allows.
The high court decision on Reddick’s case could affect over 1,500 inmates, many of whom are serving life sentences without parole in Louisiana penitentiaries. Many were convicted by split juries and had exhausted their appeals so they couldn’t get new trials when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to make its 2020 ban on divided juries retroactive. Inmate advocates have argued the high court’s ruling doesn’t prohibit the Louisiana Supreme Court from deciding the older split verdicts violate the state constitution and should be dismissed. The court has not set a date to hear arguments.
