Duncan v. Louisiana

Facts

Gary Duncan was 19 when he was tried. On October 18, 1966, while driving on Highway 23 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, he saw two younger cousins talking with four white boys by the side of the road. His cousins, who were Black, had recently transferred to a formerly all-white high school and had reported racial incidents there. Duncan stopped the car, got out and approached the six boys. At trial, the witnesses agreed that Duncan and the white boys spoke, that Duncan encouraged his cousins to end the encounter and get into his car, and that he was about to get in to drive away. The white witnesses said that just before getting in, Duncan slapped one of them, Herman Landry, on the elbow. Duncan and his cousins said he had merely touched Landry. Under Louisiana law, simple battery was a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a $300 fine. The Louisiana Constitution gave a jury trial only where capital punishment or imprisonment at hard labor could be imposed. Duncan asked for a jury, and the trial judge refused. The judge found beyond a reasonable doubt that Duncan committed simple battery and sentenced him to 60 days in the parish prison and a $150 fine.

Issues

1. Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require a State to give a jury trial in criminal cases that would require one if they were tried in federal court under the Sixth Amendment?
2. Is a crime punishable by up to two years in prison a serious crime that requires a jury trial, rather than a petty offense, even though Duncan was actually sentenced to only 60 days?

Holding

Trial by jury in criminal cases is fundamental to the American scheme of justice, so the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees a right of jury trial in state criminal cases that would come within the Sixth Amendment's guarantee in federal court. Simple battery, punishable by up to two years, is a serious crime, so refusing Duncan's demand for a jury violated the Constitution.