Ramin Khorrami was convicted for fraudulent schemes and theft in Arizona state court after a jury trial, but the jury only consisted of eight members. An Arizona law allows for criminal defendants to be tried by an eight-person jury, and only requires a twelve-person jury on charges which carry a punishment of death or imprisonment of 30 years or more. The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and declined to reconsider the constitutionality of eight-person juries in Arizona. Although the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently refused to hear Khorrami’s appeal, two of the justices—Gorsuch and Kavanaugh—dissented, agreeing with The Rutherford Institute’s argument and acknowledging “a mountain of evidence suggests that, both at the time of the Amendment’s adoption and for most of our Nation’s history, the right to a trial by jury for serious criminal offenses meant a trial before 12 members of the community—nothing less.” Justice Gorsuch’s dissent notes that “only 6 states, Arizona included, tolerate smaller panels [than twelve jurors]—and it is difficult to reconcile their outlying practices with the Constitution.” The dissent also points out that the Court had empirical data suggesting “smaller juries are less likely to foster effective group deliberation” which works to the detriment of the defendant, while “12-member juries deliberate longer, recall information better, and pay greater attention to dissenting voices.”
The amicus brief and Justice Gorsuch’s dissent in Khorrami v. Arizona are available at www.rutherford.org. Stuart Banner of the UCLA School of Law Supreme Court Clinic helped to advance the arguments in the brief.
The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, provides legal assistance at no charge to individuals whose constitutional rights have been threatened or violated and educates the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting their freedoms.
This press release is also available at www.rutherford.org.
Source: https://bit.ly/3V35WIL
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