BASS
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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A conviction by a six-person jury in a serious felony case does not violate constitutional rights under current precedent.
[1] A six-person jury in a serious felony case does not violate a defendant's constitutional rights under Williams v. …
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJermaine Lavanda Bass, Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of felony aggravated child abuse. He ap…
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DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
JERMAINE LAVANDA BASS, JR.,
Appellant,
V.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
No. 2D2025-0626
October 2, 2026
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Samantha Ward, Judge.
Blair Allen, Public Defender, and Maura J. Kiefer, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Sonia C. Lawson, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
LaROSE, Judge.
Jermaine Lavanda Bass, Jr., appeals his judgment and sentences for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of felony aggravated child abuse. We have jurisdiction. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A).
Mr. Bass presents three issues: (1) the trial court erroneously denied his suppression motion; (2) the prosecutor's improper comments
deprived him of a fair trial; and (3) his conviction by a six-person jury violated his constitutional rights.
The first and second issues lack merit. The third issue also lacks merit under current precedent. See Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 86 (1970); see also Serrano-Delgado v. State, 392 So. 3d 251, 253-54 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024). But see Kian v. Florida, 421 So. 3d 439 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025) (table decision); Petition for Writ of Certiorari at ii, Kian v. Florida, No. 25-6623 (U.S. Jan. 9, 2026) (presenting the Court with the question of whether petitioner "was derived [sic] of his right, under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, to a trial by a 12-person jury when the defendant is charged with a serious felony"), cert. granted, 2026 WL 1718018 (U.S. June 15, 2026) (No. 25-6623).
Affirmed.
NORTHCUTT and SLEET, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78 (U.S. 1970)
- Hamed Kian v. State, 421 So. 3d 439 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025)
- Serrano-Delgado v. State, 392 So. 3d 251 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024)