How to return the federal government to it's constitutional limits.

In case people forgot what jury nullification means here is a paper I had to write in school. Feel free to use and edit at will. I only have my rough draft and it needs editing.





Jury Nullification, Your Duty to Fight Injustice

Jury Nullification is the power of the jury to "decide the facts and the law." (John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States). The power to decide the law is the greatest power we have as citizens. The court can not punish a juror for his decision and a person can not be retried for the same crime after acquittal by jury. In essence a judge has no constitutional control over a jury's decision no matter what the reason.

The court will never tell a jury they have the right to nullify the law, because the court fears it's use. This power has been wielded for terrible purposes in the south during the apartheid years, which is why the court abhors it.

The power has also been used to counter unjust laws, protecting the abolitionists in precivil war American history, patriots before the Revolution, and doctors of terminally ill patients in the present. When Americans use jury nullification repeatedly in concern to a particular law, then they have effectively repealed the law. Jury Nullification is the last check a citizen has against bad law in the US legal system.

"I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." -Thomas Jefferson, 1789 letter to Thomas Paine

Jury nullification can be traced back to an English trial concerning the founder of Pennsylvania William Pen and William Mead. William Penn was accused of gathering people for religious services not approved by the crown. The Jury decided not to convict William Penn of the crime which carried severe consequences.

William Penn and Presiding magistrate, Mayor Sam Starling:
"Penn: I desire you would let me know by what law it is you prosecute me, and upon what law you ground my indictment.
Judge: Upon the common-law.
Penn: Where is that common-law?
Judge: You must not think that I am able to run up so many years and over so many adjudged cases, which we call common-law, to answer your curiosity.
Penn: This answer I am sure is very short for my question, for if it be common, it should not be so hard to produce.
Judge: The question is, whether you are Guilty of this Indictment?
Penn: The question is not, whether I am Guilty of this Indictment, but whether this Indictment be legal. It is too general and imperfect in answer, to say it is the common-law, unless we knew both where and what it is. For where there is no law, there is no transgression; and that law which is not in being, is so far from being common, that it is no law at all.
Judge: You are an impertinent fellow, will you teach the court what law is? It is Lex non scripta, that which many have studied thirty or forty years to know, and would you have me tell you in a moment?

Penn: Certainly, if the common-law be so hard to understand, it is far from being common." (The Trial of William Penn and William Mead, at the Old Bailey, for a Tumultuous Assembly: 22 Charles II. A. D. 1670.)

The jury was impressed with his legal self defense, and acquitted him of the charge against the orders of the Judge. The judge threw the jury in prison for not convicting him. Latter, the English High Court released the jurors and and established the freedom of the jury to decide law and facts in common law.(Fox News).

Imagine if the jury had convicted William Penn, people were put to death for smaller crimes in England. Williams Penn's gathering of people latter became Quakers and the founders of Pennsylvania which helped establish the freedoms we have today. The Quakers in Pennsylvania allowed women, Blacks, and Native Americans to vote and hold property by 1680. The are the true Christian revolutionaries we all brag America is founded by.

The jurors that went to prison rather than convict William Penn provided us with an awesome method to maintain freedom. Jury nullification is America's highest ideas in action. We the people decide the law.

"It is not only his(juror) right but also his duty… to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court."(John Adams, founding father)

"The first notable instance of jury nullification in the colonial United States occurred when in 1734 a jury refused to convict John Peter Zenger of seditious libel for publishing a newspaper critical of Governor William Cosby of New York."(wikipedia)

To understand the fear the our courts have for jury nullification you have to realize that the US is a representative democracy. Our founding fathers feared mob rule as much they feared tyrannical presidents. Mob rule is what allowed Germany to descend into its dark period before World War II. Hitler could not have ruled Germany without the support of the people early in his rise to power. He gained that power by working the German people into a frenzied mob.

"During the 20th century, especially in the Civil Rights Movement, all-white juries were known for refusing to convict white defendants of murdering blacks"(wiki)

Our government's checks and balances are meant to prevent a mob from voting in crazy laws, and to prevent congress from enacting such legislation. The court can rule a new law unconstitutional. The President can veto congress and congress can override the president. Jury Nullification is not mob rule any more than a popular vote is. Great power is great danger.

Obviously the system isn't perfect or we couldn't have allowed President Andrew Jackson to commit genocide on the Native Americans. If the system of checks and balances was perfect then slavery couldn't have existed. Enough Americans felt like blacks didn't need freedom and so the the part about all men being created equal was ignored by presidents, citizens, and the courts. How can you avoid mob rule with any kind of popular vote or jury nullification.

If we can't throw away our governments checks and balance system for it's weaknesses then we can't throw away our final check Jury Nullification. But that is just what the current court system would have you do.

If you are being tried for oral sex with your wife in Rhode Island you cannot tell the jury they have the right to decide the law. If you were to say the law is ridiculous and that the jury should nullify the law, then the court would declare a mistrial and bring in a new jury that believed oral sex laws are right and just. That is the courts current view on jury nullification.

"We categorically reject the idea that jury nullification is desirable or that courts may permit it to occur when it is within their authority to prevent it. Although our protection of the jury trial system provides with a power to "nullify" the law or exercise a power of lenity, is just that - a power; it is not a right or something that a judge should encourage or permit if it is within his authority to permit..."(Second Court of Appeals US v. Thomas, No. 95-1337 (2nd Cir. 5-20-97).)(G. Patrick Callahan)

"The law must be followed even if panelists believe the result will be unjust." (California Supreme Court) "A nullifying jury is essentially a lawless jury." (Chief Justice Ronald M. George)

Consider Ed Rosenthal, he was growing medical marijuana according to the rules of the State of California. The Federal Government tried him for federal drug manufacturing law violations. The jury was latter horrified when they convicted him without knowing all the circumstances concerning his abiding by California law(Fox News) The court thought such information could only be used for jury nullification of federal law and therefore omitted it.

There are no recorded deaths from Marijuana overdose. Weed is safer than raw potatoes (Judge Francis Young DEA). Yet the sentencing can be severe.

"For example, in Montana you can get a life sentence for a first offense for growing one marijuana plant. In New Mexico, which is not far away, you can be growing ten thousand marijuana plants for a first offense and get a punishment of no more than three years. Under federal law, you can get the death sentence for a first-time marijuana offense even if there's no violence involved( [link to norml.org] Anyone who's caught with 60,000 plants, which seems like a lot of pot, but if you're the person driving the truck for that conspiracy you may not be the kingpin 'but' can be given the death sentence under federal law."(ERIC SCHLOSSER)

"I've come across more than one case of people getting life without parole for a joint or for less than a joint. They tend to be habitual offenders and that's their third strike, but that's still a very severe punishment for possessing a joint."(ERIC SCHLOSSER)

"On June 6, 2003, a 19-year-old Alachua County, Florida, college student was raped by his cellmate as he served the first of four weekend sentences for delivering marijuana, a felony offense. The student's cellmate was a violent offender in jail awaiting trial on sexual battery charges; the two men shared a cell because of jail overcrowding."(MPP) If I lock you in a room with rabid dog and you die, then I murdered you wouldn't you say?

Who knows if this boy got aids from this encounter and may soon die as could the victim of a rabid dog. He may not have gotten AIDS, but there are 800,000 people arrested annually in America for marijuana offences.(Paul Armentano analysis of FBI uniform crime report) Some of those 800,000 people will die because of a prison sentence for a drug that has killed no one. More people are arrested for weed than all violent crimes combined. (FBI Uniform Crime Report)
The drug affects more than users, it has turned America into a Gangsters paradise and stories like the following are all too common.

"Three former Atlanta police officers were sentenced to prison time this week for the shooting death of a 92 year-old grandmother after breaking down her door during a botched drug raid. Jason Smith, Gregg Junnier and Arthur Tesler received sentences ranging from five to 10 years on charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death.

In November 2006, the officers -- all members of Atlanta's narcotics squad -- gunned down Kathryn Johnston inside her home. The police claimed to be acting on information they received from a confidential informant that drugs were being sold from the house. That allegation turned out to be false."(Christopher Moraff)

"During Prohibition, juries often nullified alcohol control laws,[18] possibly as often as 60% of the time."(wiki)

If you want to stop the insanity you could silently vote your conscience in jury trial. You are safe from prosecution. You may save another human life. A jury stands between the arbitrary power of the state and the rights and liberties of individuals.(Paul Sandler).

If you aren't supposed to follow your conscience and only do what the judge instruct then why have a trial by a jury of your peers? Wouldn't a council made of trained lawyers and forensic scientists be better suited than laymen? Your duty as a juror is to see that justice is dealt, not to follow the letter of the law. Jury nullification helped found this country and it is a patriotic or even Christian duty when you see injustice.

I site works here not directly quoted in the paper because I used their quotes of famous people. I noted them because I benefited from their research.


[link to fija.org]
[link to norml.org]
[link to en.wikipedia.org]
[link to www.greenmac.com]
Justice Often Served By Jury Nullification [link to www.foxnews.com]
Jury nullification: Empowering the jury as the fourth branch of government by William Goodloe (Author) Fully Informed Jury Association 1996.
[link to www.november.org] G. Patrick Callahan
[link to www.pbs.org]
[link to www.clr.org] interview with Eric Schlosser
[link to www.alternet.org] by Christopher Moraff
[link to www.fbi.gov] (FBI Uniform Crime Report)
[link to www.alternet.org] by Paul Armentano
Raising the Bar: "The Trial of William Penn" By Paul Mark Sandler | The Daily Record
[link to www.shapirosher.com]

"The Trial of William Penn and William Mead, at the Old Bailey, for a Tumultuous Assembly: 22 Charles II. A. D. 1670. " [Written by themselves.] also called "The People's Ancient and Just Liberties, asserted, in the Trial of William Penn and William Mead, at the Sessions held at the Old-Bailey, in London, the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th of Sep. 1670, against the most arbitrary procedure of that Court." From: Howell's State Trials, Vol. 6, Page 951 (6 How. 951).

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration
In The Matter Of MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION
Docket No. 86-22
OPINION AND RECOMMENDED RULING, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge DATED: SEPTEMBER 6, 1988

2012

Excellent OP, this is the first post I've seen on GLP about the power, right and duty of jury nullification. Here's hoping a lot of people see this and more importantly understand the power that they have.

The ptb and the whole "justice" system hates jury nullification.

Jurors have the right to look at not only the facts of the case and the law but to follow their own conscience and vote accordingly. It is (was) meant as another check on tyranny.

We can call that step 3.

Thanks. Few people realize the power of trial by jury and nullification.

I have been inspired by all the sheriff power threads!

Any doomer upset about the federal government running amok, could present those fears to his county and run for sheriff.

1) will never happen.
2) will never happen.

Good luck though.

Go Virginia go! Don't forget to inform your juries about nullification.

Excellent post, OP.

People need to know more about this last resort against unjust laws.

In many counties just mentioning you want to be sheriff will get you killed