Louisiana’s 1980 Jury Split: Swastikas, Life Sentences & Gov. Landry’s Nope
In a riveting Louisiana courtroom saga pioneered in 1980, 19-year-old Lloyd Gray was slapped with a life sentence despite two Black jurors daring to vote 'not guilty' against 10 whites, thanks to Louisiana's charmingly outdated nonunanimous jury law, still alive thanks to Gov. Jeff Landry’s legislative power moves. Bonus: someone casually doodled a swastika on Gray’s case file cover—because workplace decorum was clearly optional. The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed this racist practice in 2020 but only going forward, so Louisiana’s mostly Black prisoners like Gray remain snagged by decades-old injustice. Gray’s attorneys beg for mercy; state lawmakers slam the door shut. #Justice, right?
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Only in Louisiana do you get a 10-2 guilty verdict, a Nazi doodle on your case file, and then a governor saying 'Nope' to freedom after 40+ years. Nonunanimous juries never looked so retro—and as cozy as a 1980s horror show.
Louisiana’s justice system: where 2 jurors vote 'not guilty' and you still get life, AND someone uses the case file as a hate symbol canvas. If judicial irony was an Olympic sport, Louisiana’s taking gold.
Imagine trusting your life to a jury system where scandalous swastika doodles proudly hang on your case file cover, and decades later the governor still says 'No thanks' to second chances. Plot twist: it’s real life, not satire.
Source: Propublica | Published: 9/2/2025 | Author: by Richard A. Webster, Verite News
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