Supreme Court to rule on Florida’s six-person jury system

FLORIDA (WMBB) – Florida is one of only six states that use six-person juries for any criminal cases where a death sentence doesn’t apply.

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could require 12-person juries for all felony trials.

The case of Kian v. Florida has sparked a constitutional challenge.

Hamed Kian’s lawyers are working to overturn a 1970 decision that allowed state courts to use six-person juries.

“We, Florida prosecutors, have been following the law as we were told by the U.S. Supreme Court. So if they decide to change it now, it could have a profound impact on our criminal justice system,” 14th Circuit State Attorney Larry Basford said.

Some criminal defense attorneys are following the case with a different mindset.

“It’s a lot more difficult to convince 12 people than six. And the only way the state wins is to convince everyone on that jury. If it’s the unanimous not guilty verdict, the defense wins if it’s a hung jury, because the jury is not unanimous, my client still walks away without a conviction, and then it’s up to the state whether they want to waste the time, money and resource size of retrying a case that was too weak to go to trial,” Criminal Defense Attorney Albert Sauline said.

Al Sauline previously practiced law in two other states. He says six-person juries took some getting used to.

“When I moved here 22 years ago, it was a culture shock. I am licensed in Ohio, Washington, DC, and the United States District Court, and the idea of only a six-person jury was just mind-boggling. It’s not even something that is discussed in most other states,” Sauline said.

Using his own words, there is something Sauline finds more ‘mind-boggling’ when it comes to how capital sexual battery cases are tried.

“If you get six people to convict, the judge has no discretion. It is a mandatory life sentence, which means an individual can be sentenced to life in prison with only six people casting judgment instead of 12. That’s scary,” Sauline said.

While Sauline says a 12-person jury could change the outcome in many cases, Basford argues the data doesn’t back up that claim.

“There’s no research that shows that conviction rates go up or down with a 12-person jury versus a six-person jury,” Basford said.

If the Supreme Court overturns six-person juries, Basford says it could have major implications for thousands of cases under appeal.

“Right now, there are 5000 cases that are already under appeal or pending, I should say. And all of those individuals, if they were convicted with a six-person jury, would also say, “Wait a minute, I should get a new trial because I was only tried by six,” Basford said.

Basford also pointed out that if you use common law language to decide the makeup of a jury, it would only be made up of men.

Moving to 12-member juries may slow a judicial system that many think is already moving too slowly.

But Sauline says when you’re talking about a life sentence, a few extra work days doesn’t seem significant.

“There is another way of doing things, whether it’s better or not, can be debated. But this idea of, well, this is the only way it can be done, and everybody else is wrong, I just don’t buy that,” Sauline said.

Justices are set to hear Kian v. Florida this fall and will decide if a six-person jury violated Kian’s constitutional rights.

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