Louisiana was up until recently one of the last states in the U.S. which allowed non-unanimous jury convictions. This Jim Crow era law was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in April 2020, citing its racist underpinnings. But the decision is not retroactive, meaning that inmates convicted before January 2019 do not qualify for an appeal.
In Louisiana, 1,601 inmates were convicted by a non-unanimous jury who have exhausted their appeals. This is the story of those left behind after the recent Supreme Court decision.
