Currently, Florida and five other states continue to use fewer than 12 jurors in at least some criminal trials. In Florida, where all noncapital crimes are tried before six-member juries, roughly 5,000 criminal convictions are currently pending on direct appeal.
Hamed Kian was convicted by a unanimous six-person Florida jury on five felony counts of practicing chiropractic medicine with a suspended license. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on three counts, to run concurrently, followed by five years of probation on two other counts, to run consecutively to each other.
Kian appealed his conviction to Florida’s Fourth District Court of appeal, arguing that the Sixth Amendment entitled to him to be tried by a twelve-person jury because Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. 83 (2020) (holding that the Sixth Amendment requires unanimous verdicts in state court as in federal court) abrogated Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 86 (1970) (holding six-person juries satisfy the Sixth Amendment). The Fourth District affirmed in a per curiam, summary decision.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court granted Kian’s petition for certiorari to decide whether he was derived of his right, under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, to a trial by a 12-person jury when the defendant is charged with a serious felony. See Kian v. Florida, No. 25-6623 (U.S. June 15, 2026) (cert. granted).
Cert stage briefing is available here.
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