Source: https://capitelliandwicker.com/vote-yes-amendment-2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 19:54:05+00:00

Document:
On November 6, Louisiana voters will have the opportunity to eradicate a troubling vestige of the Jim Crow era: the non-unanimous felony verdict. Even though the drafters of the law allowing non-unanimous felony verdicts acted with admittedly discriminatory intent, the rule still stands to this day. “Mostly guilty” is simply not enough to convict a person for a crime, as recognized by 48 other states. We respectfully urge voters to make Louisiana the 49th by voting “yes” to Amendment 2.
48 states require unanimous jury verdicts to convict a defendant for any felony.
State Sen. J.P. Morrell (D-New Orleans), sponsor of the bill that led to Amendment 2, stated that the split-jury rule “is something that is wholly unnecessary that was born of [a] fusion of racism and disenfranchisement …. It’s a self-defeating, illogical position to have two jurors say ‘we don’t think he did it,’ then [have] prosecutors to say, ‘We met our reasonable doubt standard.’”14 State Rep. Sherman Mack (R-Albany) delivered a similar message when he presented Sen. Morrell’s bill to the Louisiana House of Representatives: “It’s time Louisiana got it, and it’s time we got on board …. This sends a message to the rest of the country that not all of us think like some of us think. We’re one of two states that do this. You have to ask yourself why, and I think everyone knows why.”15.
• American Civil Liberties Union.
• Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-founded conservative political advocacy group.
• FWD.us, backed by Mark Zuckerburg.
• Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• The Louisiana Republican Judiciary PAC.
• Bradley Burget, District Attorney – Concordia & Catahoula Parishes.
• Michael Cassidy, District Attorney – Jefferson Davis Parish.
• Joel Chaisson, District Attorney – St. Charles Parish.
• Paul Connick, District Attorney – Jefferson Parish.
• Sam D’Aquilla, District Attorney – East & West Feliciana Parishes.
• Hillar Moore III, District Attorney – East Baton Rouge Parish.
• Perry Nicosia, District Attorney – St. Bernard Parish.
• Charles Riddle, District Attorney – Avoyelles Parish.
• Kenneth Polite, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
• James Stewart, District Attorney – Caddo Parish.
• Keith Stutes, District Attorney – Acadia, Lafayette & Vermilion Parishes.
• Ed Tarpley, former District Attorney – Grant Parish.
• John Bel Edwards, Governor of Louisiana.
• Tim Hitt, former Monroe Police Corporal.
• Tim Lentz, Covington Chief of Police.
• Craig Webre, Lafourche Parish Sheriff.
• Bryan Zeringue, Thibodaux Chief of Police.
La. Sec’y of State, Statement of Proposed Constitutional Amendments: November 6, 2018, https://www.sos.la.gov/ElectionsAndVoting/PublishedDocuments/ProposedConstitutionalAmendments2018Summaries.pdf (last accessed Oct. 23, 2018).
[La. Const. Ann. art. I, § 17; La. Code Crim. P. art. 782(A).
Or. Const. art. I, § 11; Or. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 136.450; see also State v. Lomax, 406 P.3d 94, 99 (Or. Ct. App. 2017).
See, e.g., State v. Mack, 12-0625 (La. App. 4 Cir. 5/6/15); 162 So.3d 1284, 1288, writ denied, 15-1119 (La. 5/13/16); 191 So.3d 1054.
State v. Hankton, 12-0375 (La. App. 4 Cir. 8/2/13); 122 So.3d 1028, 1033, writ denied, 13-2109 (La. 3/14/14), 134 So.3d 1193.
Hankton, 122 So.3d at 1035 (internal citations omitted).

References: § 17
 art. 782
 § 11
 § 136
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