Go to next caseDuncan was convicted on a misdemeanor battery and sentenced to sixty days in jail and a $150 fine. This conviction was not the result of a jury trial, but was instead the unilateral decision of a municipal judge. The state of Louisiana allowed crimes with penalties without the potential of a severe punishment to be tried by a judge in such fasion. Duncan appealed to the Supreme Court, stating that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. The Court agreed with him and held that his crime was not a petty offense and did require a jury trial. The majority admitted that some "petty offenses" may not require a trial; however, it left these undefined. In a previous decision, the Court had ruled that a right was fundamental only if a civilized system could not be imagined without it. This decision incorporated the judicial procedural rights located in the Bill of Rights into the "Anglo- American regime of ordered liberty."
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