In 1957, Gwendolyn Hoyt was arrested in Florida for the murder of her husband. She pleaded not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. A Florida state court convicted her of second-degree murder. First, she appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, asserting that her right to an impartially selected jury was violated because the jurors were all men. During this time, a Florida jury statute exempted women from jury duty due to their domestic and maternal roles, but women could volunteer for jury duty. Her defense argued that women jurors would have been better suited to understand the aspects of the case, but the Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction. Next, a second appeal was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court asking to rule if the Florida statute violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Hoyt lost the appeal; the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Florida statute as constitutional.