It's a divide that has left hundreds of prisoners at the mercy of a two-tier judicial system that has disproportionately affected minorities.

In Oregon, the state's Supreme Court recently said these cases must be given a new look, while in Louisiana, only a handful of prosecutors have agreed to revisit past convictions decided by split juries - or what critics call 'Jim Crow juries.' Today, the two states are on sharply different paths. The justices left it to Oregon and Louisiana to decide whether to apply the decision retroactively and give inmates like Miller a second chance. But the decision only applied to open cases and convictions that were under appeal at the time of the ruling. Louisiana, righting a historical wrong propelled more than a century ago by white supremacy and xenophobic fervor. Supreme Court outlawed split-jury verdicts for people accused of serious crimes in the landmark 2020 ruling Ramos v. Law Supreme Court Guarantees Right To Unanimous Verdict In Serious Criminal Trials 'And there are so many women out there that nobody believes them, and I just ask people to look deep down inside, because nobody really knows what they would do if they were put in certain situations.' People don't understand that,' Miller said in a recent interview, a quiver in her voice. 'I can't begin to tell you how hard it is when you love someone - even if people don't understand why you love them - to know that you're responsible for their death. Then she shot him in self-defense, she testified at trial. They were arguing when it happened, and Miller says he pointed a gun and fired first. But Miller says it was because she was ashamed to admit that her husband was regularly violent with her. Yes, she blamed burglars before ultimately confessing to authorities.

Still, there was uncertainty in the jury box. Then she lied to police, blaming burglars, all because she wanted to have an affair with another man. 45-caliber pistol and fatally shot her husband, a local sheriff's deputy named Denver Miller, as he slept in bed at their home in Franklinton, La. The prosecution's case seemed clear-cut: On July 7, 1998, Miller grabbed a. Jill Miller was facing life in prison for second-degree murder, but after hours of deliberation, the jury was deadlocked at 8-4 over whether to convict. Since then, Oregon and Louisiana have gone in opposite directions in deciding how to approach past convictions. Supreme Court ruled split-jury verdicts unconstitutional.

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