[Peace-discuss] Jury Nullification

[unionyes]

I agree with Wayne in regards to " localism " and jury nulification, BUT,
as Ron points out, there must be some overriding norms of ; civil rights, 
human rights, and civil liberties protections.

You can also expand this to an international level, in regards to ; war 
crimes, etc..
Which leads to another question of enforcement and prosecution at the 
international level.

David J.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Szoke" <r-szoke at illinois.edu>
To: "E. Wayne Johnson" <ewj at pigs.ag>
Cc: <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>; "C. G. Estabrook" 
<galliher at uiuc.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 7:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Jury Nullification


> Wayne:  I hope you're not so naive as to think that jury nullification 
> will, in
> practice, always or usually result in verdicts that tend in the direction 
> of values
> or norms that you support.  John has cited the case of local juries that 
> refused
> to convict the murderers of civil rights workers in the south, c. 1965.
>
> Suppose that a jury does not convict a Minneapolis policeman who has
> assaulted, beaten or otherwise abused a dissident demonstrator at the RNC 
> in
> 2008, citing local values of "law & order" in asserting that the 
> demonstrators
> had it coming, deserved what they got, had only themselves to blame, etc.
>
> Compare the acquittals of the gang of policemen who mercilessly beat 
> Rodney
> King in L.A., as recorded on videotape.
>
> Are you saying there are no universal norms or values that apply in such 
> cases?
> How far does your localism go?  Is there, in your mind, anything to 
> prevent the
> persecution of local minorities?  Do juries ever get it wrong?
>
> --  Ron
>
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