On March 20, the Georgia State Senate over­whelm­ing­ly (44 – 7) reject­ed a pro­pos­al that would have allowed non-unan­i­mous jury sen­tenc­ing ver­dicts in cap­i­tal cas­es. The pro­pos­al would have per­mit­ted a judge to impose a death sen­tence when at least 10 of 12 jurors sup­port­ed it. Current Georgia law requires that the jury vote unan­i­mous­ly for a death sen­tence. Some oppo­nents of the bill said it would have put Georgia’s entire death penal­ty law in jeop­ardy. (All oth­er death penal­ty states that allow the jury to decide the sen­tence require una­nim­i­ty for a death sen­tence, pro­tect­ing minor­i­ty points of view.)

(“Senate rejects pro­pos­al to allow non-unan­i­mous jury ver­dicts,” by Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 20, 2008). See Recent Legislation.

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