Jury Service? Remember, You ARE our 6th and 14th amendment protection!
The founders of our nation were afraid of abuses of power. Look at our history. Look at the Bill of Rights. I’m sure that everybody that reads these little posts has a strong view on the value of the 1st and 2nd amendment. But, if there was one additional thing that I could drill into every citizen of this country… teach to every social studies student in high school… and, hopefully, start getting everybody I know to start telling all their friends, it’s this:
As a juror, you are the last (and perhaps only) protector the innocent have against bad laws, corrupt laws, malicious prosecution and general miscarriages of justice.
In free socieities, there is a fine common law tradition referred to as Jury Nullification. Put simply, after a trial is done, you have heard the evidence, and the officers of the court have
Judges and lawyers hate the idea of jury nullification. Most people don’t have an idea that it is possible. I have even had an Asst. Dist. Atty. tell me it does not exist. Unfortunately the way the system works these days judges can just remove a “problem juror”.
Judge Nullifies Juror Nullification
http://www.volokh.com/posts/1218815216.shtml
Comment by CK — February 7, 2009 @ 11:44 am