## Facts

- Daniel Burch (a theater operator) and Wrestle, Inc. were jointly charged in Louisiana with exhibiting obscene motion pictures.
- Louisiana law required jury trials for offenses punishable by more than six months’ imprisonment and permitted a six-person jury to convict by a 5–1 vote.
- The defendants were tried before a six-person jury.
- Wrestle, Inc. was convicted unanimously.
- Burch was convicted by a 5–1 vote.
- Burch received two consecutive suspended seven-month prison terms and a $1,000 fine; Wrestle, Inc. was fined $600 on each count.

## Issues

1. Whether the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments permit a state to convict a defendant of a nonpetty offense by a 5–1 verdict returned by a six-person jury.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court held that a nonunanimous verdict by a six-person jury in a state criminal trial for a nonpetty offense violates the Sixth Amendment jury-trial right as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment.
- The Court reversed the judgment insofar as it upheld Burch’s conviction based on a 5–1 verdict.
- The Court affirmed the judgment insofar as it upheld Wrestle, Inc.’s unanimous conviction.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the Court’s holding.

## Legal Principles

- For nonpetty offenses, when a state uses a six-person jury (the constitutionally permitted minimum), the verdict must be unanimous to satisfy the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.
- Jury-size limits and unanimity are interrelated protections; combining the minimum jury size with nonunanimous conviction threatens the substance of the jury-trial guarantee.
- Near-uniform state practice requiring unanimity for six-person juries in serious cases is relevant evidence of a constitutional boundary.
- Administrative-efficiency interests, without more, do not justify permitting nonunanimous convictions by a six-person jury.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Louisiana could not constitutionally authorize conviction for a nonpetty offense by a 5–1 verdict from a six-person jury; unanimity is required when the jury is reduced to six members, though a unanimous six-person conviction remains valid.


Burch v. Louisiana, 441 U.S. 130 (1979)