[Peace-discuss] Jury nullification in DC

[C. G. Estabrook]

	February 16, 2009
	LOCAL HEROES: JURIES NULLIFY LAWS THEY DON'T LIKE

J.D. Tuccille, DC Examiner - The jury box is just about the only place where 
average citizens can veto bad laws. In Washington, D.C., a jury ignored a 
military veteran's obvious violation of the city's draconian gun laws, setting 
him free with only a slap on the wrist. In LaSalle County, Illinois, a medical 
marijuana user found with 25 pounds of the plant didn't even get the slap; 
jurors chatted with him after finding him not guilty. While we can't know for 
sure, in both cases jury nullification was likely at work as regular people 
serving an important role in courtrooms exercised their power to quash laws they 
found repugnant.

Corporal Melroy H. Cort, who lost his knees to an improvised bomb in Ramadi, 
Iraq, was en route to Walter Reed Hospital from his home in Columbus, Ohio, when 
his car got a flat. He and his wife, Samantha, pulled over for repairs, at which 
time Cort, who has a concealed carry permit at home, retrieved his 9mm pistol 
from his glove compartment and put it in his pocket.

Cort's gun was spotted by somebody who called police, and Cort rapidly gained an 
education in D.C.'s notoriously strict firearms laws. He was charged with 
carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and 
possession of ammunition. He spent the night behind bars for having the nerve to 
possess a weapon in a city that, while it has improved since its nadir in the 
1990s, still has about triple the national average rate of violent crime. . .

According to the Washington Post:

"After being deadlocked twice, a D.C. Superior Court jury yesterday acquitted a 
Marine amputee on felony charges of gun possession stemming from an arrest while 
he was on the way to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. . . Although acquitting 
him of the gun charges, the jury found Cort guilty of possessing ammunition, a 
misdemeanor. He was sentenced to time already spent in the D.C. jail."

Historically, as President John Adams put it, it has been the juror's "duty ... 
to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and 
conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." 
Unfortunately, you won't come across that quote from Adams in many modern 
courtrooms. Government officials don't like being second-guessed by the hoi 
polloi, so the tradition of independent juries has been allowed to wither from 
neglect. Few jurors ever learn about the traditional power of juries. . .

To preserve what's left of our liberty, jury nullification is a good and 
powerful tool for checking government power. But since it is frequently 
discouraged by judges and prosecutors jealous of their prerogatives, it's 
generally exercised on the sly -- often by jurors unaware that they're doing 
exactly what was originally intended. For that reason, we'll likely never know 
exactly when nullification is being exercised.

http://prorev.com/2009/02/local-heroes-juries-nullify-laws-they.html
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