Singer John Legend is lending his Grammy Award-winning voice to Louisiana's debate over split juries.
In November, Louisiana voters will decide whether to join 48 other states in requiring unanimous jury verdicts in all felony trials. Oregon is the only other state to allow felony convictions when just 10 out of 12 jurors agree.
Legend wrote an editorial in the Washington Post stating in part, "The 10-2 jury rule has sharply diminished the participation of African American jurors. It's hard to have faith in a criminal justice system that treats members of the community differently based on race."
It's not the first time Legend has weighed in on Louisiana issues.
Just last year, he appeared before a legislative committee in support of criminal justice reforms which ultimately passed.
"The epicenter of our country's system of mass incarceration is right here in Louisiana with ground zero in cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge," Legend said last May.
The Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) welcomed Legend's endorsement.
"It is great that John Legend understands the significance of what is going to happen in November in Louisiana and he voices his support for it, but also I think it speaks to the many years of work that has been put on by people on the ground," IPNO Executive Director Jee Park said.
Park added, allowing non-unanimous jury verdicts is not what we're doing right in Louisiana, it's what we're doing wrong.
"In our cases we've seen that in nearly 40 percent of the exoneration cases we have worked on, either one or two jurors were dissenting," Park said.
Legend's editorial referenced one IPNO case, Kia Stewart who was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
A judge released Steward after 10 years when witnesses came forward to offer alibis for him and to pin the shooting on another man.
Legend writes, "We are at a crossroads, with an opportunity to right this long-standing wrong. It's time to come together, reject prejudice in all its forms."
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State Attorney General Jeff Landry declined to be interviewed, but has come out against the referendum.
Landry's top assistant Wilbur Stiles told the New Orleans Advocate, Landry believes "the non-unanimous jury law has a positive effect on the criminal justice system in Louisiana. We believe it makes for quicker and easier administration of the system."
U.S. Senator John Kennedy says he hasn't decided how he'll vote at the polls.
"I don't want to make it easier to let criminals go free," Kennedy said. "On the other hand, in America, we're innocent until we're proven guilty."
Orleans Parish DA Leon Cannizzaro also declined to give his opinion on the unanimous jury amendment.
While some DA's oppose the measure, the Louisiana District Attorneys Association is officially neutral on the matter.
John Legend is founder of FreeAmerica, a criminal-justice reform advocacy group.
Paul Murphy can be reached at pmurphy@wwltv.com.