The Sixth Amendment In U.S. Trials

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees criminal defendants:

• The right to a public trial without unnecessary delay.
• The right to an attorney, the right to an impartial jury.
• The right to know one’s accusers.
• The nature of the charges or evidence against them.

Preparation

Analyze the following U.S. Supreme Court cases:

• Ballew v. Georgia.
• Burch v. Louisiana.

Instructions

Write a 4–6 page paper in which you:

• Explain the fundamental protections available to a defendant under the Sixth Amendment related to the concepts of a speedy trial, an impartial jury, the role of the jury, and the right to face one’s accusers.
• Prepare a one-page case brief of Ballew v. Georgia.
  • Use the Case Brief Template [DOCX].
• Prepare a one-page case brief of Burch v. Louisiana.
  • Use the Case Brief Template [DOCX].
• Analyze the reasoning behind the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Ballew v. Georgia and Burch v. Louisiana that a conviction by a unanimous five-person jury in a trial for a non-petty offense deprives an accused of the right to trial by jury.
• Support your writing with at least three credible, relevant, and appropriate academic sources.
• Write in an articulate and well-organized manner that is grammatically correct and free of spelling, typographical, formatting, and/or punctuation errors.

• Evaluate the role of the Sixth Amendment in U.S. trials.