Opinion ID: 2357814
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Unanimity of the Verdict

Text: The underlying requirement of a final verdict is that it be unanimous. [T]he People of the State of Maryland declared in what is now Article 21 of the Declaration of Rights of their Constitution: That in all criminal prosecutions, every man hath a right ... to a speedy trial by an impartial jury, without whose unanimous consent he ought not to be found guilty. This Court explicated this constitutional declaration in Ford v. State, 12 Md. 514 (1859): `The verdict is the unanimous decision made by a jury and reported to the court, on the matters lawfully submitted to them in the course of the trial.' Unanimity is indispensable to the sufficiency of the verdict.... Id. at 549, quoting 10 Bacon's Abridg. Title Verdict, 306 (emphasis in original). [3] The constitutional provision is implemented by Maryland Rule 759 a, which flatly states: The verdict of a jury shall be unanimous....