In 1975, Norris Henderson went on trial for second-degree murder as a 19-year-old in New Orleans. He thought he was a free man when there were two holdouts on the jury.
“Watched Perry Mason all my life,” he says. “Okay, 10-2, I’m outta here.”
But he was mistaken. Louisiana has a split-jury system that only requires 10 of 12 jurors to return a guilty verdict.
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