The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law.” The Sixth Amendment goes on to preserve other rights for criminal defendants, but says nothing else about what a “trial by an impartial jury” entails.

The United States Supreme Court has held that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial—which also applies to the states by way of the Fourteenth Amendment—requires a unanimous verdict to convict a defendant of a serious offense in state or federal court. A serious offense is generally a felony offense, or a misdemeanor in which the defendant may be sentenced to a year or more in jail or prison.

In Minnesota, as in all states, the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a 'speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury' is upheld. This means that defendants in criminal prosecutions have the right to have their case decided by a jury of their peers, drawn from the state and district where the crime occurred. The requirement for an impartial jury is fundamental to ensuring a fair trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Sixth Amendment to require a unanimous verdict to convict a defendant of a serious offense, which typically includes felonies and any misdemeanors that could result in a sentence of a year or more of incarceration. This standard is applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, which incorporates the Sixth Amendment's protections and makes them applicable to the states. Therefore, in Minnesota, a unanimous jury verdict is required to convict an individual of a serious criminal offense.