Opinion ID: 2215822
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Right to Trial By 12 Jurors

Text: Article I, § 2 of the New York Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a trial by jury. This fundamental right has been properly interpreted as guaranteeing the right to trial by jury as it had existed at common law ( People v Ahmed , 66 N.Y.2d 307, 311). A legal jury according to the common law consisted of 12 persons ( People v Cosmos , 205 N.Y. 91, 96; Cancemi v People , 18 N.Y. 128, 135). This Court has thus long recognized that under our State Constitution a person accused of a crime is entitled to determination by a jury of 12 ( see , People v Ryan , 19 N.Y.2d 100, supra; People v Mitchell , 266 N.Y. 15; People v Thorn , 156 N.Y. 286, 294; Stokes v People , 53 N.Y. 164, 171-172). Our Constitution originally made no provision for waiving a jury trial in criminal cases. The right to a trial by 12 jurors was considered such an essential component of the constitutional right to trial by jury that, like the latter guarantee, it was deemed absolute and could never be waived by either party  even where the defendant expressly requested and consented to a trial by fewer than 12 jurors ( see, e.g. , Cancemi v People , 18 NY at 138; see also , People ex rel. Battista v Christian , 249 N.Y. 314, 319; People v Cosmos , 205 NY at 96). Members of the former Judicial Council even questioned whether the proposed constitutional amendment providing for waiver of jury trial by a criminal defendant would suffice to legalize trial by jury of less than twelve men, as well as a complete waiver of the jury, deeming this an issue for subsequent judicial resolution (2d Ann Report of NY Jud Council, 1936 NY Legis Doc No. 48, at 100).