Opinion ID: 1174739
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Eight-Member Jury

Text: Defendants argue that the trial was heard by an unconstitutional panel of jurors, composed as it was of eight members. Article I, § 10 of the Utah Constitution provides: In capital cases the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate. In courts of general jurisdiction, except in capital cases, a jury shall consist of eight jurors. Thus, the Utah Constitution permits a panel of eight jurors in noncapital criminal cases. See also U.C.A., 1953, § 78-46-5 (Supp. 1983). In Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 103, 90 S.Ct. 1893, 1907, 26 L.Ed.2d 446 (1970), the United States Supreme Court held that a jury of six persons in a criminal case is constitutional. In Johnson v. Turner, 429 F.2d 1152, 1154 (10th Cir.1970), the Tenth Circuit specifically ruled, in light of the Williams holdings, that the eight-juror panel for noncapital offenses under the Utah Constitution is constitutional. Defendants therefore have no valid sixth or fourteenth amendment claim.