So, in the Smash or Pass thread it came up that maybe if we had a different makeup of jurors, we would get better case law. I thought I would pass on my one day attempt at jury nullification.
I was living in an unnamed city for work, and was called to jury duty. I was selected and the trial began. The basic facts of the trial:
Black man and white woman had met, fallen in love and married. They had a child, then got divorced. She was a hair salon owner, he had what I would consider a normal job. Can't remember. Anyway, is is common in left leaning places, one of the first things a woman does for leverage is to take out a restraining order. This one included telephone and email. There was no suggestion of anything like physical abuse that might have justified something like this. They retained joint custody.
So, one day the father is watching some amateur porn, and he opened up a video, and saw his ex wife getting plowed in the ass. It was her. We watched the clip in court. He was very distressed, and emailed her to say he was concerned about that kind of behavior given that their daughter lived with her most of the time. She proceeded to forward the email and the restraining order to the local police station, at which time he was picked up and tossed in jail. He didn't have money for bail, having spent it on alimony and child support, and spent the entire pre trial time there. He lost his job.
None of these facts were really contested. She put up a little fight that it wasn't her in the clip, but she was very distinctive, had a French accent etc, and there was no doubt. We went to deliberations. I figured everybody would vote to acquit because he was so obviously in the right, but I was the only vote in that direction. I held out for a day until I said something stupid that gave away the plot, and I was accused of breaking my oath and told the rest would vote to remove me. I don't even know if they could do that, but I gave in.
Anyway, juries suck and, as @2aBaCa they should have more power, but I think they simply do not use it for good. It's not easy to hold out, and you have to be more strategic than I was.
I was living in an unnamed city for work, and was called to jury duty. I was selected and the trial began. The basic facts of the trial:
Black man and white woman had met, fallen in love and married. They had a child, then got divorced. She was a hair salon owner, he had what I would consider a normal job. Can't remember. Anyway, is is common in left leaning places, one of the first things a woman does for leverage is to take out a restraining order. This one included telephone and email. There was no suggestion of anything like physical abuse that might have justified something like this. They retained joint custody.
So, one day the father is watching some amateur porn, and he opened up a video, and saw his ex wife getting plowed in the ass. It was her. We watched the clip in court. He was very distressed, and emailed her to say he was concerned about that kind of behavior given that their daughter lived with her most of the time. She proceeded to forward the email and the restraining order to the local police station, at which time he was picked up and tossed in jail. He didn't have money for bail, having spent it on alimony and child support, and spent the entire pre trial time there. He lost his job.
None of these facts were really contested. She put up a little fight that it wasn't her in the clip, but she was very distinctive, had a French accent etc, and there was no doubt. We went to deliberations. I figured everybody would vote to acquit because he was so obviously in the right, but I was the only vote in that direction. I held out for a day until I said something stupid that gave away the plot, and I was accused of breaking my oath and told the rest would vote to remove me. I don't even know if they could do that, but I gave in.
Anyway, juries suck and, as @2aBaCa they should have more power, but I think they simply do not use it for good. It's not easy to hold out, and you have to be more strategic than I was.
