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Will Six Jurors Decide Your Felony Case?
Plea BargainsSep 16

Will Six Jurors Decide Your Felony Case?

The Supreme Court will decide in Kian v. Florida whether states can try serious felonies before juries smaller than 12, as Florida and Connecticut do with six jurors. Learn what a smaller jury changes at trial and what the pending case means for a plea decision you may be weighing now.

Plea BargainsSep 6

What Happens When Your Jury Cannot Agree?

A deadlocked jury ends your trial without ending your case. Here is how a judge gets to a mistrial, why a second trial is allowed, who decides whether it happens, and what the weeks before your status hearing are worth.

Gavel Daily EditorialRead
Plea BargainsAug 26

Oregon Dismissed 2,165 Cases Because Nobody Gave You a Lawyer. Then It Refiled 451 of Them.

Under State v. Roberts, Oregon must dismiss charges when an eligible defendant goes 60 days (misdemeanor) or 90 days (felony) after arraignment without appointed counsel. But the dismissal is without prejudice, and 451 of 2,165 dismissed cases have already come back. Here is what that actually means for someone waiting on a public defender.

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Plea BargainsAug 21

Two Circuits Have Now Used the Supreme Court's New Appeal-Waiver Escape Hatch. Both Dismissed the Appeal Anyway.

In Hunter v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that a federal appeal waiver cannot be enforced when doing so would produce a miscarriage of justice. Two federal appeals courts have now applied that rule. Both dismissed the appeal in front of them. The Second Circuit's decision in United States v. Matos widened the doctrine and narrowed the practice in the same opinion.

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Plea BargainsAug 16

Waive Your Jury in Louisiana and the DA Can Take Your Judge: HB 310 Took Effect August 1

Louisiana Act 541 took effect August 1, 2026. In districts with three or more criminal judges, filing to waive a jury now triggers automatic random reassignment of your case, and only the district attorney can stop it. A buried paragraph also restarts the speedy trial clock.

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