[Discuss] Fwd: [Peace-discuss] on Jury Nullification

[Ricky Baldwin]

Great!  Some places they hand out pamphlets on jury nullification. 
These are resources we can get, too.

The real pinch I think comes not from the prosecuting attorney asking
questions, as discussed just now, but earlier.  I was called last year
for jury duty and they show you a little video of the judge (so you
can't ask him/her any questions?) telling you you must follow the law
even if you disagree with it -- completely false of course, but try
arguing with the court functionaries they have herding you around ...
then they ask you to swaer an oath that you can do that, even if you
disagree.

Bears some thinking about in my opinion.

I think most of the very honest people who'd be willing to stand up for
real justice against such "justice" lies could be weeded out by this
oath "requirement."  So, for example, I KNEW about jury nullification,
but I wasn't sure how I was going to get IN ... and in the end, the
case (whatever it was) was settled by the psychological pressure on the
defendant of our tromping feet outside the courtroom door (another
issue in itself).

The system isn't just broken, folks, it's twisted and tangled - gnarled
even - and, like the hydra, you chop off one head it grows two.
Ricky
--- Barbara kessel <barkes at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Jury nullification" is when the jury finds a person innocent by way
> of
> nullifying a bad law they are being tried under. Barbara
> *ewj at pigs.ag*
> 
> Randall,
> Thanks for referencing the Wikipaedia --- Note the following ---
> 
> "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by
> which a
> government can be held to the principles of its constitution."
> -- Thomas Jefferson.
> 
> During Prohibition, juries often nullified alcohol control laws,
> possibly as
> often as 60% of the time. This resistance is considered to have
> contributed
> to the adoption of the Twenty-first amendment repealing the
> Eighteenth
> amendment which established Prohibition.
> 
> In the 21st century, many discussions of jury nullification center
> around
> drug laws that some consider unjust either in principle or because
> they are
> seen to discriminate against certain groups.
> 
> A jury nullification advocacy group estimates that 3-4% of all jury
> trials
> involve nullification, and a recent rise in hung juries is seen by
> some as
> being indirect evidence that juries have begun to consider the
> validity or
> fairness of the laws themselves.
> 
> *
> The facts are that JURORS HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASSESS THE APPLICABILITY
> OF THE
> LAW, and
> further that the JUDICIAL SYSTEM DOES NOT WANT THE PEOPLE TO HAVE
> THIS
> INFORMATION,
> because it would interfere with the power and the profits of the
> Legal-Judicial-Penal Industrial Complex,
> which has become a very big business indeed.
> 
> There is absolutely no doubt that impoverished people and minorities
> do not
> receive the same treatment by the under the law as do rich people,
> and
> elites, and whites. This is a terrible injustice in our nation and in
> our
> communities.
> 
> If enough good people learn about Jury Nullification and the fact
> that so
> many American citizens have been imprisoned for non-violent offenses,
> there
> could be a dramatic reduction in prosecutions and eventual
> overturning of
> unjust laws and a reduction in unfair law enforcement.
> 
> These film clips from the 1990's are from an old TV show where Jury
> Nullification is discussed.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA4GKG__B-s
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRdse8zBzyI
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbw8rF_hA9I
> 
> And some entertainment - Arlo Guthrie
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8DtpdXZi0M
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