Also known as: serious offences · serious offenses · felony · indictable offence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An offense authorizing a sentence of imprisonment exceeding six months. The Sixth Amendment right to jury trial attaches only to such offenses.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Steven Silva forces a window to enter a home at night intending to steal jewelry. The state charges him with common-law burglary. Because the offense authorizes more than six months in prison, the court treats it as a serious offense and grants Steven a jury trial.
Seth Shapiro is charged in one state with a felony carrying a potential five-year term and flees to another state. The demanding state seeks his return under Article IV. Because the crime authorizes more than six months imprisonment, it qualifies as a serious offense requiring extradition proceedings.
Stella Shapiro reaches through a broken window to unlock a door and enter a residence to commit theft. Prosecutors charge burglary. The offense carries a sentence exceeding six months, so the court classifies it as a serious offense and provides a jury trial.
Sebastian Santos enters a dwelling without permission and only later decides to commit arson inside. The state prosecutes for burglary. Because the crime authorizes imprisonment beyond six months, it is a serious offense entitling Sebastian to a jury trial on the intent element.
Santiago Sanchez solicits another to commit arson but the principal offense is completed. The completed crime absorbs the solicitation. The resulting felony authorizes more than six months imprisonment and is therefore a serious offense requiring a jury trial.
Selena Singh commits a felony not covered by the felony-murder rule and a death results. The state charges involuntary manslaughter. The underlying felony authorizes more than six months imprisonment, rendering the homicide prosecution a serious offense that carries the right to a jury trial.
An offense is serious if it authorizes imprisonment for more than six months. Offenses authorizing six months or less are presumptively petty and carry no constitutional jury-trial right.
No. The test focuses on the maximum authorized sentence, not the formal label. A felony punishable by six months or less remains presumptively petty.
No. When no imprisonment is authorized, the offense is petty and the jury-trial right does not attach.
…common-law scholars and found its way into the received common law in this country. Whether abortion of a quick fetus was a felony at common law, or even a lesser crime, is still disputed. Bracton, writing early in the 13th century, thought it homicide.[^maj-23] But the later and predominant view, following the great…