When Glenn Davis was 19, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — even though the jury deciding his fate did not agree on his guilt.
Because of a Jim Crow-era statute, a person in Louisiana could be convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, including life without parole, on a 10-2 or 11-1 verdict.
“My life was in the hands of a treacherous system that would convict me, even though two of the jurors said, ‘Not guilty,’” Davis, now 45, said in a recent interview. “How can you say a person has been convicted beyond a reasonable doubt if one juror says, ‘Hold up. Wait! Something’s not right about this’?”…