Oregon Democrats preserve nation's only non-unanimous juries, wait on Supreme Court decision

Legislative action that would have asked Oregon voters to end non-unanimous juries in Oregon quietly died in the Oregon Senate last week because top lawmakers weren’t confident they could muster a successful ballot campaign.

There was widespread support among lawyers and lawmakers to end Oregon’s standing as the only state in the country that allows for criminal convictions for crimes short of first-degree murder by non-unanimous juries.

House Joint Resolution 10 called on voters to remove that provision from the Oregon Constitution and would have appeared on the November 2020 ballot.

The resolution, championed by House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, passed unanimously in the House in mid-June. It remained in the line-up for a Senate vote until the second-to-last day of the session. That day, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, referred it to the Senate rules committee, effectively killing it.

Read more: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/07/oregon-dems-preserve-nations-only-non-unanimous-juries-wait-on-supreme-court-decision.html