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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?
Most of them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Juror then gets a mistrial called and goes to jail for perjury.
Not sure why downvoted. This is true.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"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.
Reminds me of the killing of Ken McElroy[0] >In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. No one called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness either was unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges. An extensive f…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People drastically overestimate what will get you moved out of the pool. If you say in voir dire that you wouldn't vote to convict even if the person is guilty, you're not going to get put on a jury.
No, but you might be put in a jail cell overnight for contempt.
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 don't know, but I was selected for a jury once. That said, I did not make any particular effort to get out of serving. I answered the voir dire questions honestly, but didn't go out of my way to volunteer something just because I thought it might get me out of jury duty. For example, I didn't say "I'm a radical Libertarian who considers the State invalid in principle and strongly supports jury nullification." Had I been asked "are you a radical Libertarian who ..." I would have answered "yes", but it never came up. So I tried to be honest and neutral, and in the end they picked me.
The moral of this story? I'm not sure. I will say this though: I learned a lot from the experience. Hopefully I'm never on trial for anything, but if I ever am, I believe my jury experience might actually be helpful to me.
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?
Why in the world would HN readers not be eligible to serve on a jury. I was on a jury trial when a spouse of a prosecutor office employee was allowed on. People drastically overestimate what will get you moved out of the pool.
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?
Why in the world would HN readers not be eligible to serve on a jury. I was on a jury trial when a spouse of a prosecutor office employee was allowed on. People drastically overestimate what will get you moved out of the pool.
He was serious, btw.
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Better to leave the law to the self-proclaimed "experts" who wrote and enforced laws permitting slavery for most of a century.
Slavery wasn't a crime. And the slaves were property, not allowed trial by jury. Stopping the punishment of crimes is not halting all injustice.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Juror then gets a mistrial called and goes to jail for perjury.
Not sure why downvoted. This is true.
Rule 606 of the Federal Rules of Evidence prohibits a juror from testifying “about any statement made or incident that occurred during the jury’s deliberations; the effect of anything on that juror’s or another juror’s vote; or any juror’s mental processes concerning the verdict or indictment.” [0]
Without testimony, how would you make the case for perjury? You can’t force the juror to incriminate themself, nor can you ask the other jurors to incriminate them. There’s no functional way to distinguish between nullification and a deliberated no vote.
[0] See page 25 (labelled as 12) https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/Rules%20of%20Ev....
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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"
Lawyer: Are members of your profession stereotypically capable of independent critical thought?
Juror: Yes?
Lawyer: Dismissed.
(They just ask for professions and maybe educational background then infer the rest.)