The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether states can use juries made up of only six people in criminal cases, instead of the usual 12. The case involves Hamed Kian, a Florida chiropractor who was convicted by a six-person jury for practicing with a suspended license.
Background
Kian’s license was suspended after three women who were his patients complained he either kissed or touched them inappropriately, according to court records. Prosecutors sought an indictment after amassing evidence that Kian continued to see patients even after the suspension.
Kian’s lawyers argue that the smaller jury violates the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state. The amendment does not explicitly set the size of the jury, but Kian’s lawyers contend that the word jury could only have meant a body of 12 people at the time the amendment was adopted in 1791.
Previous Rulings
Just over 100 years later, the Supreme Court ruled that juries had to have 12 people. However, in 1970, the justices changed course and ruled by a 7-1 vote that the number 12 was not sacrosanct, also in a case from Florida.
More recently, the court has placed renewed emphasis on the original understanding of the Constitution. In another Sixth Amendment case, the court ruled in 2020 that juries must be unanimous in criminal cases, effectively overturning a 1972 decision that had allowed for non-unanimous convictions in criminal cases in Louisiana and Oregon.
Original reporting: WPBF West Palm Beach — read the source article.
