Virginia officials asked the Supreme Court to review that ruling, noting that the state’s Supreme Court had come to the opposite conclusion on the legal question in the case. The United States Supreme Court also agreed to decide whether the Constitution allows non-unanimous verdicts in criminal cases. Louisiana has since amended its state Constitution to bar non-unanimous verdicts, but the move came too late to help Mr. Ramos. Oregon is the last remaining state that allows non-unanimous verdicts in criminal cases. In a pair of decisions in 1972, one each from Oregon and Louisiana, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not require states to insist on unanimity.

Source: New York Times March 18, 2019 16:52 UTC