Backwoodsman: There is no such thing as "the US legal system." There is one federal system and 50 state systems. Then there criminal courts, civil courts, family courts, tax courts, military courts (courts-martial), each with their own rules of procedure. I don't even know how to count how many "systems" we've got.

If there is any uniformity at all, it is only because the US constitution sets some limits on what states can do. I'm pretty sure there is nothing in the US constitution that says that juries can't determine sentences. Therefore it is practically inevitable that some juries somewhere do determine sentences.

More than that, I can't tell you.