[Peace-discuss] Jury Nullification

[E. Wayne Johnson]

thanks for sending this, Carl.

C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> [From The Progressive Review, edited by Sam Smith. --CGE]
>
>     February 1, 2009
>     LOCAL HEROES: JURY FREES MARIJUANA USER
>
> Freedom's Phoenix - A rural Illinois jury has found one of their peers 
> innocent
> in a marijuana case that would have sent him to prison. Loren Swift 
> was charged
> with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, and he faced a 
> mandatory
> minimum of six years behind bars. According to Dan Churney at My Web 
> Times,
> several jurors were seen shaking Swift's hand after the verdict, a 
> couple of
> them were talking and laughing with Swift and his lawyer, and one 
> juror slapped
> Swift on the back.
>
> The 59-year-old was arrested after officers from a state drug task 
> force found
> 25 pounds of pot and 50 pounds of growing plants in his home in 2007. The
> Vietnam veteran walks with a cane, has bad knees and feet and says he 
> uses
> marijuana to relieve body pain, as well as to help cope with post 
> traumatic stress.
>
> This jury exercised their right of jury nullification. Judges and 
> prosecutors
> never tell you this, but when you serve on a jury, it's not just the 
> defendant
> on trial. It's the law as well. If you don't like the law and think 
> applying it
> in this particular case would be unjust, then you don't have to find the
> defendant guilty, even if the evidence clearly indicates guilt.
>
> In jury nullification, a jury in a criminal case effectively nullifies 
> a law by
> acquitting a defendant regardless of the weight of evidence against 
> him or her.
> There is intense pressure within the legal system to keep this power 
> under
> wraps. But the fact of the matter is that when laws are deemed unjust, 
> there is
> the right of the jury not to convict.
>
> Jury nullification is crucially important because until our national 
> politicians
> show some backbone on the issue of marijuana law reform, it's one of 
> the only
> ways to avoid imposing hideously cruel "mandatory minimum" penalties on
> marijuana users who don't deserve to go to prison.
>
> Prosecuting and jailing people for marijuana wastes valuable resources,
> including court and police time and tax dollars. Hundreds of thousands of
> otherwise productive, law-abiding people have been deprived of their 
> freedom,
> their families, their homes and their jobs. Let's save the jails for real
> criminals, not pot smokers. . .
>
> http://prorev.com/2009/02/local-heroes-jury-frees-marijuana-user.html
>
>
>> E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>>> There are many unjust and misapplied laws in this country.
>>>
>>> The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, 
>>> higher than China, Albania, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union.
>>>
>>> There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that the 
>>> judicial-incarceration system is a racket that reaps zillions of 
>>> dollars
>>> and thousands of jobs and much power and influence.
>>>
>>> I am very disturbed to see our brothers and sisters sent away and 
>>> locked up
>>>  for years because of a mindless judicial system and jurors who are 
>>> misinformed.
>>>
>>> I have started a blog page on the subject of how citizens can fight 
>>> back
>>> against the system and unjust laws and cruel and unusual punishments.
>>>
>>> Jury Nullification - Right and Duty of Citizen Jurors. 
>>> <http://www.liberty4urbana/drupal-6.8/node/96>
>
>