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Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

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Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#11

Post by Spooky23 »

daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

Communities don’t always think the way you think.

It’s cool to be sympathetic to criminals now, but the people stuck living with drug dealers and pimps don’t share that.

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#12

Post by themitigating »

daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

"Imagine a town didn't like someone of a certain political leaning. They could murder that person and it would only take one jury member.

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#13

Post by dathinab »

daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

This is why a judge can bring in a jury from outside of the community.

But yes, the US law system is deeply flawed in many many ways, and most of it is intentionally (through also historically).

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#14

Post by mcherm »

daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

They could, for instance, prevent for most of a century most prosecutions for lynching.

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#15

Post by themitigating »

yuliyp wrote: post #9
daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

This is why attorneys get to ask questions of potential jurors and ask for them to be excused.

Lawyer- "Would you nullifiy this verdict due to personal beliefs?"

Juror with strong opinions "ohh no, never"

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#17

Post by duxup »

Buttons840 wrote: post #2

I wonder what portion of jurors know what jury nullification is? I've always thought I could simply utter those words and get out of any jury duty. Not that I would, I would love to serve on a jury. I also wonder how many HN readers would be allowed on a jury?

> I also wonder how many HN readers would be allowed on a jury?

I served on a jury. Can’t imagine why any given HN user wouldn’t be allowed…

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#18

Post by hirundo »

daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

It's a limited trump card, in that a jury can nullify law but not make it, or even adjust the charge. And their decision holds no legal precident beyond the immediate case.

I think of an informed jury as the tire between the wheel and the road, to fill the gap between the abstract judgement of the legislature and the concrete particulars. Tires do fail, sometimes fatally, but they save a lot of wear on the whole system.

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#19

Post by Overtonwindow »

duxup wrote: post #16

Seems pretty reasonable result as he wasn’t targeting a specific case. I do think fans of jury nullification overestimate how much juries would be interested in such things.

It doesn’t have to be the entire jury, one juror can hang everything.

Re: Man arrested for promoting jury nullification wins federal case

#20

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

dathinab wrote: post #13
daenz wrote: post #6

Is jury nullification the ultimate trump card? From what little I know about it, it seems that if enough people in a community knew about it, they could 100% control what crimes are punished in that community. On face value, that makes a sort of sense intuitively, but obviously it has to be balanced against crimes that are in principle clearly wrong, despite what a local community believes.

This is why a judge can bring in a jury from outside of the community. But yes, the US law system is deeply flawed in many many ways, and most of it is intentionally (through also historically).

What would be a better alternative?
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