How Many Jurors Decide a Florida Criminal Trial? Six, Twelve, and the Eight That Decide Death

Two men went on trial in the same Tampa courthouse about seven months apart. Each was accused of killing a woman and a child with a knife and then fleeing. Both were convicted, and both juries were then asked whether the sentence should be death. The Tampa Bay Times interviewed jurors from both panels for a story published September 12, 2026, and what they described shows how much a voting rule shapes the conversation in a jury room.

I was an Assistant Public Defender in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which is Hillsborough County, before I opened this firm. The numbers in this post govern every criminal trial in Florida, and many folks learn them for the first time from inside a jury box.

Two Juries, Two Rooms

According to the jurors who spoke to the Times, the first jury talked for about two hours and then voted by secret ballot. The count was ten for death and two for life. Ten was more than the law required, so the recommendation was death and the discussion ended there. The jurors in the majority never learned why the other two had voted the way they did.

The second jury wrote each juror’s position on a whiteboard, yes, no, or maybe, and went around the table. It ended six to six on the murder of the mother and seven to five on the murder of her daughter. Neither count reached eight, so the recommendation on both was life in prison without parole.

The jurors told the Times they were not sure a unanimity rule would have changed either result. They said it would have kept them talking. One juror from the second trial summed up the two cases in a single line: “Is it right? Is it wrong? IDK.” This post names neither defendant, because the rules are the story, and both cases may still be reviewed on appeal.

Six, Twelve, and Eight

Florida’s rule on the size of a criminal jury is one sentence long. Rule 3.270 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that “Twelve persons shall constitute a jury to try all capital cases, and 6 persons shall constitute a jury to try all other criminal cases.” The committee note says the rule transcribes section 913.10 of the Florida Statutes. A capital case is one where the State is seeking death. Every other felony, including a first degree felony punishable by life in prison, goes to six jurors.

The size of the jury and the vote needed to convict are separate questions. On guilt, Florida requires every juror to agree. Rule 3.440 says “No verdict may be rendered unless all of the trial jurors concur in it.” That holds for a six-person jury on a third degree felony and for a twelve-person jury on first degree murder.

The death penalty phase follows its own statute, section 921.141. After a conviction for a capital felony the same jury hears evidence about the sentence. It must first find, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, that the State proved at least one aggravating factor. If it does not, death is off the table. If it does, the jury weighs the aggravating factors against the mitigating circumstances and votes on a recommendation, and that vote does not have to be unanimous. If at least eight jurors vote for death, the recommendation is death. If fewer than eight do, the recommendation is life without parole, and the judge must impose life. A death recommendation leaves the judge the choice between death and life. The eight-juror threshold took effect in 2023, and the firm’s homicide defense page covers how that change came about.

That is the math that separated the two Tampa juries. A ten to two vote in the first room was already past eight. Six to six and seven to five in the second room fell short.

Why Florida Uses Six

The six-person jury is a Florida case at the Supreme Court. In Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78 (1970), a man charged with robbery and tried by six jurors argued that the Sixth Amendment guaranteed him twelve. The Court disagreed. It described the common law’s fixing of the jury at twelve as “a historical accident,” id. at 89, and held that “the 12-man panel is not a necessary ingredient of ‘trial by jury,’” id. at 86. Florida has tried every non-capital felony to six jurors ever since.

Florida’s rule has rested on that holding for more than fifty years, and the six-person felony jury has stayed lawful in Florida because the Supreme Court never revisited Williams.

The Case the Supreme Court Took in June

On June 15, 2026, the Court granted review in Kian v. Florida, No. 25-6623, 2026 WL 1718018 (U.S. June 15, 2026). The question is whether Williams should be overruled and the Sixth Amendment read to require twelve jurors in a state felony trial. The Court has not decided it. Nobody can say when it will, or what it will hold, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.

What can be said is who would be affected if the answer changes. In Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328 (1987), the Supreme Court held that a new rule for criminal prosecutions applies to every case still pending on direct review when the rule is announced. A case that is final, meaning the direct appeal is over, is in a very different position. That distinction is the reason defendants whose appeals were already underway tried to raise the issue after the grant.

What a Florida Appeals Court Said in September

On September 9, 2026, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal rejected the argument in appeals by defendants convicted by six-person juries, including Mullins v. State, No. 2D2025-0655 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 9, 2026), and Tolliver v. State, No. 2D2025-1345 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 9, 2026). Both convictions were affirmed. In Mullins the court wrote that “a grant of certiorari decides nothing and overrules nothing,” and that unless and until the Supreme Court overrules Williams, Florida courts must follow it, citing Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc., 490 U.S. 477, 484 (1989). In Tolliver the court described a steady stream of briefs raising the issue since the grant and declined to hold those appeals in abeyance pending Kian, leaving appellants who wish to pursue the argument to take it to the Supreme Court.

Two details in Mullins matter most for anyone whose case is still open. First, the defendant had not objected to the six-person jury at trial, so the court held the claim reviewable at most for fundamental error, the narrow category of error that needs no objection, citing Serrano-Delgado v. State, 392 So. 3d 251, 253 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024), and then found no error at all. Second, in footnote 1 the court expressed no opinion on the effect a future merits decision in Kian may have on a case that remains pending on direct review, citing Griffith, 479 U.S. at 328. That question was left open on purpose.

The firm’s page on criminal appeals in Florida explains why preservation at trial decides so much of what an appeals court is allowed to consider.

If a Trial Is Coming in Your Case

The practical lesson from September is about timing. An objection to a six-person jury is made in the trial court, by name, before the jury is sworn, with a request for twelve and a clear ruling on the record. Under current law the trial judge has to deny it, because Williams controls. The objection still matters, because it is what keeps the question preserved if the Supreme Court changes the answer while the case is on appeal. Raised for the first time on appeal, the same argument gets reviewed only for fundamental error.

The jury rules also shape the trial itself. With six jurors every seat carries more weight in jury selection, and with a unanimous verdict requirement a single juror who is not persuaded prevents a conviction. When jurors cannot agree, Florida has a specific instruction the judge may give and firm limits on how hard a judge can push, which the firm covers in its post on jury deadlock and the Allen charge. In a capital case, the eight-juror threshold makes the penalty phase a case of its own, built around the mitigation a jury hears.

Whether the Supreme Court keeps six or requires twelve, the jurors in the second Tampa trial described what the rules are meant to protect: a room where people keep talking until they understand each other.

Common Questions

How many jurors are on a criminal jury in Florida?

Six for every criminal trial except a capital case, and twelve for a capital case, meaning one where the State is seeking the death penalty. The rule is Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.270, which follows section 913.10 of the Florida Statutes. A first degree felony punishable by life in prison is still tried to six jurors.

Does a Florida jury have to be unanimous?

On guilt, yes. Rule 3.440 provides that no verdict may be rendered unless all of the trial jurors agree. At the death penalty phase, the jury must unanimously find at least one aggravating factor, but the recommendation itself needs only eight of twelve votes for death. Fewer than eight votes means a sentence of life without parole.

Will the Supreme Court require twelve jurors in Florida?

The Supreme Court agreed on June 15, 2026 to hear Kian v. Florida, which asks whether its 1970 decision allowing six-person juries should be overruled. The Court has not ruled, and until it does, Florida courts must follow the 1970 decision. Nobody can responsibly predict the outcome.

If I was convicted by six jurors, can I still raise the issue?

It depends on whether the objection was made at trial and whether the case is still on direct appeal. In September 2026 Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed convictions by six-person juries, reviewed an unpreserved claim only for fundamental error, and declined to pause appeals while the Supreme Court decides the question. It expressly left open what a later Supreme Court ruling would mean for cases still on direct review.

Further Reading

1. 2 Tampa murder trials. 2 juries. 1 death penalty. 1 life sentence, Tampa Bay Times, September 12, 2026
2. Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78 (1970), Justia
3. Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314 (1987), Justia
4. Kian v. Florida, No. 25-6623, the docket, Supreme Court of the United States
5. Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules 3.270 and 3.440, The Florida Bar
6. Fla. Stat. 913.10, number of jurors, Online Sunshine
7. Fla. Stat. 921.141, sentence of death or life imprisonment for capital felonies, Online Sunshine

This post is general information about Florida and federal law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The account of the two Hillsborough County juries is as reported by the Tampa Bay Times from interviews with jurors; the defendants are not named, and any pending appeal is unaffected by anything said here. The decisions discussed are Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78 (1970), Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314 (1987), Kian v. Florida, No. 25-6623, 2026 WL 1718018 (U.S. June 15, 2026) (granting certiorari), Mullins v. State, No. 2D2025-0655 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 9, 2026), and Tolliver v. State, No. 2D2025-1345 (Fla. 2d DCA Sept. 9, 2026); the Florida authorities are Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.270 and 3.440 and sections 913.10 and 921.141, Florida Statutes. Every case turns on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.