Burch v. Louisiana

The Louisiana Constitution and Code of Criminal Procedure provide that criminal cases in which the punishment imposed may be confinement for a period in excess of six months “shall be tried before a jury of six persons, five of whom must concur to render a verdict.” 1 We granted cer-tiorari to decide whether conviction by a nonunanimous six-person jury in a state criminal trial for a nonpetty offense as *132contemplated by these provisions of Louisiana law violates the rights of an accused to trial by jury guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.2 439 U. S. 925 (1978).

Petitioners, an…