86 Years Of Split-Jury Convictions Invalidated In Oregon

All non-unanimous convictions, including convictions for violent felonies, that were reached during the 86-year period in Oregon when the state allowed split-jury convictions have been overturned retroactively, invalidating hundreds of felony convictions, Zane Sparling reports for The Oregonian. 

In his concurrence, Justice Pro Tempore Richard Baldwin described the 1934 authorization of split jury verdicts as a “self-inflicted injury” intended to minimize the voice of nonwhite jurors. The system was approved by voters in the 1930s, but the Supreme Court formally outlawed divided verdicts in current and future cases in Ramos v Louisiana in 2020.