Deshawn M. Dawson v. United States

In Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. 83 (2020), this Court held that the Sixth Amendment’s right to a “trial . . . by an impartial jury,” as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, requires that criminal convictions adjudged by juries be unanimous not just in federal civilian courts, but in state courts as well. Service members and civilians prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, in contrast, can be convicted by a three-fourths vote of a court-martial panel of lay members. This rule applies not only to allegations of military-specific offenses, but also to trials for alleged common-law crimes unrelated to military service. Often, the only thing depriving a court-martial defendant of the protection of a unanimous verdict requirement is the sovereign’s choice of the forum in which to prosecute. The Question Presented is: Does the Constitution preclude a court-martial panel of lay members from convicting a defendant of a criminal offense by a non-unanimous vote?