CYPRESS : Council Endorses Idea of 11-1 Jury Verdicts

By a 4-1 vote, the City Council this week endorsed a proposed state constitutional amendment that would allow a less-than-unanimous jury verdict to convict in some criminal cases.

Councilwoman Mary Ann Jones cast the lone opposing vote, saying she did not have enough information on the proposal to support it.

The constitutional amendment is being spearheaded by state Sen. Charles M. Calderon (R-Montebello). The measure would allow for 11 of 12 jurors to render a verdict in criminal cases except those in which the prosecutor is seeking the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Calderon and supporters of the measure contend that in some criminal cases, a “lone, irrational, holdout juror” prevents justice by deadlocking the jury.

In a letter to Mayor Cecilia L. Age, Calderon wrote, “I have introduced this proposal because I sincerely believe that our criminal justice system has been plagued by an unnecessarily high rate of hung juries, which has crippled our prosecutorial abilities and substantially decreased local revenues because of the high cost of longer jury sequestration and retrials.”

Opponents of the proposal have said it would be unwise to allow 11-1 convictions in criminal cases. USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky said he thinks it would be “dangerous . . . to change 700 years of tradition.”