Jury Nullification?

[Arc Light]

What are your thoughts on the concept of jury nullification? For those that are unfamiliar with the term, it basically means that as a juror, you believe the defendant is guilty of the crime, but vote to acquit anyway because you believe the law itself is unjust. I've always been a big proponent of jury nullification, when warranted. The government and prosecutors will tell jurors it is unlawful. I don't give a fuck. I got to thinking about it more with these bullshit red flag laws.

If I'm on a jury and one of my fellow citizens is on trial charged with a blatantly unconstitutional law, I'm voting to acquit. I don't care if he is guilty of the "crime" or not. The Constitution trumps all laws and that is how I would be guided as a jury member.

 

[LeftyJason]

 

[Paul_R]

1. You have to have a convincing idiot / sycophant routine in order to be picked as a juror in the first place.

2. "I cannot in good conscience find this person guilty of a crime". Do no elaborate further. Your fellow jurors will either get it or they won't but you've done your duty regardless.

Fully Informed Jury Association

 

[DRandi]

I’ve been on a jury before. After seeing some of the judge and lawyer antics first hand, fuck em. Vote on what you think is right.

I ended up being the alternate jury in a self defense case. I didn't have to make the final vote, but listen to the whole case. We were instructed by the judge that it didn’t matter if the defendant by letter of the law was innocent. Unless their lawyer specifically cited that law.

Wait say what!!!! So the guy was innocent and acting in accordance with the law, but guilty unless his lawyer actually says.... according to statutes bla bla bla Mr. so and so is innocent. That and also being told you can only make your verdict within the law excerpts that they give you. Doesn’t matter what comes out. You can only judge based on those rules. They are not really interested in right of wrong, just making and winning their case. So once again, fuck em.

 

[Long Range 338]

Jury nullification is built into the system as a fail safe, unfortunately as a society we are ignorant of our rights and our responsibilities as citizens. It is our only defense against broken laws!

 

[HeavyAssault]

Just wait till you are seated as a Grand Jury member. Talk about BS.

 

[deersniper]

I’ve been on a jury before. After seeing some of the judge and lawyer antics first hand, fuck em. Vote on what you think is right.

I ended up being the alternate jury in a self defense case. I didn't have to make the final vote, but listen to the whole case. We were instructed by the judge that it didn’t matter if the defendant by letter of the law was innocent. Unless their lawyer specifically cited that law.

Wait say what!!!! So the guy was innocent and acting in accordance with the law, but guilty unless his lawyer actually says.... according to statutes bla bla bla Mr. so and so is innocent. That and also being told you can only make your verdict within the law excerpts that they give you. Doesn’t matter what comes out. You can only judge based on those rules. They are not really interested in right of wrong, just making and winning their case. So once again, fuck em.

What happened?

 

[DuneBoer]

Never underestimate the stupidity of a jury or voters.

 

[Racer88]

Once I was in a jury pool in "voir dire." I brought up a concern, and the judge told me, "You will follow the law as I explain it to you." I brought up the right to Jury Nullification if we found the law unjust or unconstitutional. She (the judge) did not like it, but did not argue with me. In the end, I was not selected to be on the jury. Imagine that! LOL!

 

[acudaowner]

is that where they neuter the jury lol I am all for it as long as i am not there . lol

 

[W54/XM-388]

I think it may not be possible for an intelligent freedom loving person to get on a jury without a whole lot of faking it.

 

[TheGerman]

I've always wondered what would happen if I was on a jury that was split or had some 'activists' on it, heard the case and then went back to deliberate and made it be known that I'm saying 'not guilty' regardless of what the rest of you faggots want. We can sit here for 5 minutes or 5 weeks and its 'not guilty' from me, so lets just end this shit right now.

But the closest I ever got:

Defendants lawyers during jury selection: What did you specifically do in the military?

Me: None of your damn business.

 

[gro]

I've always wondered what would happen if I was on a jury that was split or had some 'activists' on it, heard the case and then went back to deliberate and made it be known that I'm saying 'not guilty' regardless of what the rest of you faggots want. We can sit here for 5 minutes or 5 weeks and its 'not guilty' from me, so lets just end this shit right now.

This happened to a friend of mine years ago. It was a lawsuit against a school where some of the jurors felt bad for what happened to the kid even though it wasn't the school's fault. They kept talking about how the family could sure use the money even though they knew it wasn't the school's fault, like it was coming out if thin air because it was from the government. Anyway, my friend informed them he was being paid his full wage to be there and there was no way he would give in no matter how long it took. The few activists eventually wanted to get back to their real life and backed down.

I remember at one point in college during summer break wanting to get selected for jury duty, in hindsight I think I was just really bored.

 

[EddieNFL]

I think it may not be possible for an intelligent freedom loving person to get on a jury without a whole lot of faking it.

Been called four or five times. I always make the first cut, but never get past the lawyers. The last two times, I said what I thought they wanted to hear. During the most recent trip, I saw one of the defense lawyers point me out as he was talking to his partner. Guess I need to take acting lessons.

 

[Greenday4537]

The government and prosecutors will tell jurors it is unlawful.

Prosecutor I asked last night told me there's nothing illegal about it.

 

[Rlandry]

I've never sat on a jury and don't intend to. That's a benefit of self employment. Me losing money, sitting there for $6 a day while some maggot lawyer is knocking down $350+ an hour just doesn't work for me.

 

[DRandi]

It was years ago, so I don't remember all the details. Two guys got belligerent at a something like restaurant bar. The instigator got up in the others face shouting and cursing. Technically he is the aggressor right now. He then backed off and began to walk away leaving with nothing more than words said. The other guy basically said your not walking away from me and went after him and made the first physical contact. He just became the aggressor now and the original instigator is justified in self defense cause he didn't do anything physical and was leaving. Was just a knuckle dust up, no weapons.

Under FL self defense law, no questions he was clear. He make no physical contact and attempted to deescalate by fleeing, walking away. Once touched he then had the right to stand his ground and self defense.

Court case. Was told by the judge specifically that if the defendants lawyer, (guy who was trying to walk away) didn't specifically cite FL law that he was acting in self defense that we could not consider it. So that tells me the judge knows whats going on, otherwise he wouldn't of know to specifically point it out. Yet the judge knowing that under the letter of the law the guy was in the right, still let it go to trial.