Cooks v. Spalding

Cooks appeals from denial of a petition for habeas corpus. He alleges denial of due process and effective assistance of counsel because his attorney waived his state right to a 12-person jury.

Cooks was present when his counsel requested a 6-person jury and voiced no objection until after trial, a guilty verdict by the jury, and his incarceration. The state courts rejected his claim that the waiver was flawed.

He claims the trial court denied him due process when it deprived him of his state-created right to a knowing and voluntary election of a jury of less than 12 persons. See generally State…