![]() ![]() The Louisiana Supreme Court denied certiorari.ġ. He had requested a jury trial, which was denied because the Louisiana Constitution grants jury trials only in cases where capital punishment or imprisonment at hard labor may be imposed. Appellant was convicted of simple battery and sentenced to 60 days in prison and a fine of $150. Under Louisiana law, simple battery is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of two years' imprisonment and a $300 fine. Rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment are almost always extended to the states, so a decision that seemed groundbreaking at the time seems straightforward in retrospect. Judges are not inherently unfair, so it goes too far to say that a jury trial is required to meet this standard. However, defendants may choose to waive a jury trial if they wish.ĭue process may be violated in the criminal justice system only if the defendant was denied an element of fundamental procedural fairness. All other crimes do give rise to this right, since the potential penalty imposed upon a conviction is the key factor in determining whether the right applies. Crimes that may be punished by no more than six months in jail do not give rise to this right, assuming that they are otherwise petty offenses. It provides defendants with protection against aggressive prosecutors and judges as well as malicious prosecution. The right to a fair trial is central to the American system of jurisprudence, and it dates back through centuries of the Anglo-American tradition. Duncan argued on appeal that the unavailability of a jury violated his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. He was convicted by a judge after his request for a jury trial was denied because simple battery did not fall within the categories that provided a right to a jury. ![]() The evidence was unclear as to whether he had merely touched the other boy or actually slapped him. Duncan, an African-American boy, was charged with simple battery upon a white boy. In Louisiana, the right to a jury trial was available only to defendants who could face either capital punishment or imprisonment at hard labor if they were convicted.
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