America's Catholic bishops are urging the Supreme Court to force Florida to change how its criminal juries are formed, arguing that the state's current method of filling one is a violation of the U.S. Under Florida law, only capital cases require a jury of 12 people, whereas the rest of criminal cases only have juries of six people. The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case from Hamed Kian, who was convicted by a six-member jury, challenging the practice on the basis that it violates his Sixth Amendment right.
A flurry of briefs have been filed in support of Kian, including from current and former prosecutors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Catholic bishops. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops filed an amicus brief that directly challenges a legal framework defended by Florida and other Republican-led states. The bishops argue that the original meaning of the Constitution's jury-trial right requires 12 jurors and that the Supreme Court should overturn its 1970 decision in Williams v.
Florida, which upheld six-person criminal juries. The dispute centers on the question of how many people must be on a jury for a serious criminal trial. Kian, a Florida chiropractor, appealed his convictions after being tried by a six-member jury under Florida law, arguing that the Sixth and 14th Amendments guarantee defendants charged with serious crimes the right to a 12-person jury.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in June, setting up a potential reconsideration of its 1970 decision in Williams v. Florida, which upheld the use of six-person juries in noncapital criminal cases. Kian was charged with five counts of practicing chiropractic medicine with a suspended license, a third-degree felony under Florida law.
Prosecutors alleged that he treated patients after his chiropractic license had been suspended. At trial, three patients testified that Kian performed chiropractic treatments on them after the suspension took effect, and prosecutors presented patient records and office scheduling documents that they said corroborated the allegations. A six-person jury convicted Kian on all five counts, and he was sentenced to one year and one day in prison time and five years of probation.
For centuries, criminal juries in England and the United States typically consisted of 12 members. In 1970, however, the Supreme Court ruled in Williams v. Florida that the Constitution does not require juries to contain exactly 12 people.
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