Wrongful Conviction With Jason Flom

In forty-eight other states and in federal courts across the country, a conviction requires a unanimous vote – all jurors must agree on whether a prosecutor has met the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Louisiana is the only state where someone can be sentenced to life without parole without a unanimous decision of a jury. Non-unanimous juries allow conviction even where two citizens have reasonable doubts about the evidence. They are, as a result, unreliable. More than forty percent of all those who have been recently exonerated were (mistakenly) found guilty by non-unanimous juries. On November 6th, 2018, Louisiana voters will have a chance to change that. Amendment 2, a ballot initiative, would require unanimous agreement by jurors for all felony trials. Jason Flom is joined by Doug DiLosa of Rising Foundation and Chris Pourciau the Deputy Director of the Unanimous Jury Coalition, through the Promise of Justice Initiative. Doug DiLosa is himself a victim of non-unanimous jury. He was wrong