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Denver Police Arrest "Jury Nullification" Activist For Passing Out Informational Pamphlets

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Screen Shot 2015-08-24 at 4.06.59 PM

Most of you will be familiar with the concept of jury nullification. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans are not. This is precisely why Mark Iannicelli set up a “Jury Info” booth outside the Lindsay-Flanigan Courthouse in Denver. In a nutshell, jury nullification is the idea that jurors can “can ignore the law and follow their conscience when they believe the law would dictate a miscarriage of justice.” In other words, jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts. As you will see in the video at the end, this concept has centuries of precedence in these United States behind it.

When you recognize the vast power that such a concept holds, you recognize why it would be so hated by statists and authoritarians across the land. That is precisely why Mr. Iannicelli was arrested and charged with handing out information.

For a little background, read the following from the Denver Post:

Denver prosecutors have charged a man with seven counts of jury tampering after they say he tried to influence jurors by passing out literature on jury nullification on Monday.

Mark Iannicelli, 56, set up a small booth with a sign that said “Juror Info” in front of the city’s Lindsay-Flanigan Courthouse courthouse, prosecutors say. 

 

The Denver District Attorney’s Office says Iannicelli provided jury nullification flyers to jury pool members.

Jury nullification is when jurors believe a defendant is guilty of the charges but reject the law and return a not guilty verdict.

In response to what appears to be a clear attack on freedom of speech, the Denver Post editorial board published an admirable defense of Mr. Iannicelli several weeks after his arrest. Here are a few excerpts:

It is astonishing that Denver police would arrest someone for handing out political literature outside a courthouse.

 

It’s even more astonishing that prosecutors would charge that person with seven felony counts of jury tampering.

 

Now, fortunately,  civil rights attorney David Lane has filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of other jury nullification activists. They want an injunction to stop the city from violating their First Amendment rights should they too wish to pass out literature.

 

They deserve to get one.

 

Jury nullification is understandably controversial — and is especially resented by courts and prosecutors. It is the notion that jurors can ignore the law and follow their conscience when they believe the law would dictate a miscarriage of justice. But it is hardly a new concept.

 

In the 19th century, Northern juries refused to convict abolitionists for harboring runaway slaves. In the 20th century, juries often balked at enforcing Prohibition and later, on occasion, at what they considered overly harsh drug laws or laws governing sexual behavior.

 

Jury nullification had a darker strain, too, as Southern juries would sometimes refuse to convict white defendants guilty of racial violence.

 

The point is that jury nullification is not some crank theory concocted out of the blue.

 

As First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh has written, “It’s clear that it’s not a crime for jurors to refuse to convict even when the jury instructions seem to call for a guilty verdict.”

 

Those who believe the public needs to know about this possibility should have every right to publicize their views — even outside a courthouse.

 

Their jury nullification literature, as it happens, merely offered general statements, such as, “Juror nullification is your right to refuse to enforce bad laws and bad prosecutions.”

 

Four years ago, prosecutors in New York City charged a retired chemistry professor with jury tampering after he stood outside a federal courthouse handing out information on jury nullification. But Judge Kimba M. Wood of federal district court wouldn’t buy it. She ruled that prosecutors needed to show the protester meant to influence jurors in a specific case, and dismissed all charges.

Denver officials should be held to no less of a standard.

So where do things stand now?

The good news is that Denver’s city attorney has come to the aid of the activists, setting up a fight between him and the district attorney. Once again, from the Denver Post:

Denver’s city attorney has directed the police and sheriff’s department to stop arresting people passing out jury nullification literature in front of the courthouse.

 

The order was revealed Friday in U.S. District Court during a hearing involving a lawsuit against the city and Denver police chief Robert White.

 

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of activists who want to distribute jury nullification information outside the Lindsey-Flanigan courthouse. They sued after two others who were handing out pamphlets were  charged with seven counts of jury tampering by District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.

 

The lawsuit argues that the arrests are a violation of free speech rights and asks for a federal injunction against further arrests.

 

The lawsuit also named Denver Chief Judge Michael Martinez, who on Thursday issued an order barring demonstrations, protests, distributing literature, proselytizing and other activities on the courthouse grounds.

 

City Attorney Scott Martinez said his staff argued that the Denver judge’s order was overly broad. They also argued against arrests targeting people handing out jury nullification literature.

 

The city attorney’s office also has taken a position that their actions do not violate state law.

 

“We agree that the court house steps are a public forum and that people can pass out information, including pamphlets, in accordance with the First Amendment,” the city attorney said.

 

The city attorney’s position is unusual in that it is siding with the very people who are suing the city. It also pits the city attorney’s office against the district attorney’s office, which filed criminal charges.

Well done Mr. Martinez.

If you want a little more info on jury nullification, check out the following video featuring a much younger Ron Paul:

 

Part 2:

*  *  *

For related articles, see:

The War on Free Speech – U.S. Department of Justice Subpoenas Reason.com Over Comment Section

French Authorities Demonstrate Defense of Free Speech by Arresting 54 People for Free Speech

Statists Declare War on Free Speech – College Students Banned from Handing Out Constitutions in Hawaii

 

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Tue, 08/25/2015 - 22:53 | 6471375 Chauncey Gardener
Chauncey Gardener's picture

The Californificaton of Colorado is now complete.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:00 | 6471546 Ckierst1
Ckierst1's picture

To whatever extent that is true, it sure as hell isn't complete because of jury nullification.  That's a libertarian causa celebrer and I sure don't see that much libertarianism emerging from CA lately.  So when is CA gonna legalize dope?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:19 | 6471716 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

I don't do maryjane.  Don't care for the taste.  I tried it and, unlike that pussy Clinton, I actually inhaled.  Not my thing, tastes like alfalfa.

But if it's your thing, go right ahead, I don't give a fuck.

The shit is available everywhere here at places with a green cross.  To me, that's practical legalization.  If there's more to be done, I'm game.

But thou shall not drive in a fucked up state.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:24 | 6471725 Iudaea Delenda Est
Iudaea Delenda Est's picture

try a vaporizer.  listen to "Chasing the Trane".  Drink a very good, very cold beer.   Take a hike up a hill.  Eat a legit ribeye and smoke a legit cigar afterward.  Receive a blow job.  Touch the face of dog.

 

You can also try a bong and fill the bottom with Wild Turkey.

 

worth it.

 

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 05:50 | 6471885 Deathrips
Deathrips's picture

decriminalize....dont legalize.....its grass.

 

RIPS

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 22:56 | 6471380 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Dont forget attorneys when it's time to sequester those who've earned their spot in our own "conciergerie".

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 22:59 | 6471382 Paveway IV
Paveway IV's picture

If there is a God in this world, Mark Ianicelli will be tried and found guilty by a jury of his peers...

and they will promptly NULLIFY the conviction as unjust and tell the judge and the corrupt, crony-ridden Justice Deparment to FUCK OFF.

But then, there are no Gods in this world, only psychopathic oligarchs lording over peons. Damn! We may have to break out the wood-chippers after all.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:32 | 6471479 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

This world is a test for all of us. 

We cry foul when TPTB intervene in markets.  Why do you do the same when God doesn't intervene to prevent people from, probably, damning themselves due to loyalty to Satan instead of the creator?

If you really feel that this world is all there is (no God) AND you are not one of TPTB then I pity you for wasting your life being good for no reason at all.  If it doesn't matter then it doesn't matter, right?  Yet you persist on not being a crony, a psychopathic oligarch, or however else you might describe TPTB on this planet.  All these years for nothing.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:45 | 6471513 Rock On Roger
Rock On Roger's picture

The god got me here for digging and stacking.

And I ain't wasting the opportunity.

 

And in the end it just goes black.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:50 | 6471612 Boxed Merlot
Boxed Merlot's picture

…in the end it just goes black…

 

So the diggin and stackin is for naught.  Personally, I also believe it will be for naught but for entirely different reasons, that’s because in comparison to an eternity with no injustice, no warring, no death and no decay, the digging and stackin of road  surface material for 70-80 orbits will seem a wonderfully dopey exercise to reflect on.

As for the fact that God does not intervene and correct what we find to be egregious and unjust conduct by others, we confuse God’s active will with His permissive will.  He did allow His only begotten to suffer the most heinous, public, painful, humiliating, unjust and gruesome death by the most spiteful, self-righteous, barbaric, ruthless and power grubbing scoundrels to draw a breath without intervening. 

Think about that the next time you’re worried He doesn’t do enough to satisfy your personal idea of what He should or shouldn’t do on your behalf.  His active Will will occur when He’s good and ready.

And there’ll be no dead cat bounce afterwards.

Jmo.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 03:23 | 6471787 bunnyswanson
bunnyswanson's picture

Can I share an experience I had while touring ancient Roman ruins?  Not mystical, don't read horoscope, believe in ghosts or aliens.  I have been looking and they simply are not there.  However, this day while touring (Tauck tours) a little village in which the stores and restaurants were caves and the side of this mountain had caves in apartment-like on the side of it.  A giant catapult was in the field by this village.  Walking up toward the catapult, I stopped and sensed this:  I had been here before as a very long child, i was on the ground playing in the dirt and was struck by a horse which broke ribs and caused pneumothorax.  It came at me like lightning.  I suddenly wanted to play like a child...and looked down at the dirt, wondering why.  Energy from nowhere lifted my head and I found myself crawling up the steps of this formation like a child (38 yrs old).  My husband just stood there and watched me like I was out of my mind.  I felt so happy.  But, x would have none of that.  (It is not where you go, it is "who" you go with)

So, we may never get to leave here.  At this point, this is my biggest fear.  Coming back to a world ruled by the most obnoxious people on the face of earth, and forced to succumb and obey their utterly demeaning, spirit-breaking and hopelessly desperate world of the Chozen Ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q87POBJiuOU

Before the fire - Gallon Drunk - Fire music

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 11:38 | 6473188 Boxed Merlot
Boxed Merlot's picture

Energy from nowhere lifted my head and I found myself crawling up the steps of this formation like a child…

 

"Well, I thought it was a very lovely story, and you told it with such enthusiasm".  But for me, I’d rather base the prospect of my ultimate personal demise on something a bit more substantial than an oblique reincarnation mishmash given by an unknown yet self-proclaimed intellect already exposed to mysticism while visiting foreign lands with histories of previous residents groping after the “unknown god”.

I realize many hold the Christian canon of scripture to be something akin to Grimm’s Fairytales, but even a cursory perusal, yet alone a serious scholarly examination would reveal a singularity of purpose carried out by ~40 different and distinct writers over the course of centuries using several languages, including the Greeks with all their vitally important contributions to logic and reason, requesting and receiving a version of the Law, Prophets and Wisdom literature in their native language thus allowing thousands of years of future study to be conducted by subsequent generations into the validity of the claims of our God’s singular begotten to visit His creation in the flesh and reveal to us the true nature of Love.

Not to mention the personally written accounts of contemporaneous eyewitnesses of His life and ministry including verifiable historical personages, geographic locations and with impeccably dated precision.  Far more could be said, but I’m getting too long winded already, and I suspect most here are already back asleep.

 

Jmo.  

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:58 | 6471769 Farqued Up
Farqued Up's picture

Your dogged self mesmerization that an afterlife exists administered by a ghost does not make it factual. If it were, why would a devil exist? That figment exists to scare the shit out of you to whip you into line by the charlatan pseudo holy rollers to give them your money. Fine by me if you insist that your head belongs up your ass but all should leave me alone. I stay away from that cooking.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:56 | 6472049 conscious being
conscious being's picture

There are many ways to perceive existance. Don't get hung up on the dopey ones that the MSM and the PTB want to steer you into.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 05:00 | 6471851 CSA
CSA's picture

The Spirit speaks, but will they listen?

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:37 | 6471495 MEAN BUSINESS
MEAN BUSINESS's picture

In this world the gods have lost their way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suvmijx4HQE

SPIRIT OF SURVIVAL

the late great Chris Squire (R.I.P. 2015) and his YES founding brother Jon Anderson

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:51 | 6471525 Ckierst1
Ckierst1's picture

They have to find him not guilty I believe to nullify.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:22 | 6471720 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

I am fully prepared to go onto a jury and sanction a judge for $100's of thousands for not properly informing a jury of it's rights.  Sanctions to be paid to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Salvation Army, immediately or be ordered to jail.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 22:58 | 6471386 darteaus
darteaus's picture

I hope he asks for a jury trial to test/validate his theory.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:10 | 6471422 Secede Or Die
Secede Or Die's picture

"I hope he asks for a jury trial to test/validate his theory"

Don't be a dumbass. It's not a theory. The 10th amendment of the Constitution says "...All remaining powers are reserved for the states or the people”. The Jury is “the people” that have the duty and right to protect fellow citizens from government gone bad.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:13 | 6471438 Paveway IV
Paveway IV's picture

 "...The Jury is “the people” that have the duty and right to protect fellow citizens from government gone bad..."

The people? Do you mean like CNBC viewers, Wal*Martians and the Kardashian Krowd? Oh hell... we are SO utterly screwed.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:21 | 6471459 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

When your idea of justice comes from the teevee show Cops lol.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:30 | 6471732 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

Yeah.  You're right, but in every jury pool I've been on.  Every single person took it serious.  While we milled around watching the mind porn, we did talk.  There were a lot of people who were fully versed on jury nullification, most of them were black women, the other 40% were pissed of late middle agers or older.  I think we're going to see an upswing in 'fuck you's' from jurys.

And nothing forbids talking to the others in the jury pool, explaining concepts they've never heard of.

Next time I'm called, I plan to go to the front of the room and explain their rights.

[Well, at least those I can pull attention away from whatever video is playing.]

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:22 | 6471463 McCormick No. 9
McCormick No. 9's picture

Isn't the 10th amendment engraved on the horn of a unicorn? I hear the 4th amendment is written on golden plates guarded by forest gnomes.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:46 | 6471604 neilhorn
neilhorn's picture

The last shall be first.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:28 | 6471473 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Bwahahaha!

Yes, and constitutional amendments are sacred, and juries are never intimidated by government storm troopers or the media, etc.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:00 | 6471388 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

Prosecutors just want to win...they don't care if you're guilty or not...convicting the innocent, or a criminal, counts the same in their win/loss ratio.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:19 | 6471448 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

7 Felonies over a pamplet. These aholes grow more desperate every day.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:36 | 6471491 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

What needs to be done is to citizen's arrest and detain the cops and DA in question.  Then convene a grand jury, yada-yada...  If found guilty of heinous civil rights crimes then execute, publicly and sharply.

No "government" needed.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:45 | 6471690 sluggo
sluggo's picture

Sounds like T. Paine in the 1700's. Revolution?

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:31 | 6471477 messymerry
messymerry's picture

I got shit on by a corrupt detective and an effing nimrod prosecutor as  a gorram favor to a ""friend of the police"".  It cost me almost $40,000.00.  We are no longer a nation of laws, we are a nation of men.  Of the three allegedly co-equal branches of .gov, justice is by far the most dangerous.  I wouldn't piss down their throats if they were dying of thirst. 

...and those that don't actively participate in the rape of our Constitutional rights are GUILTY of aiding and abetting. 

Scum, the lot of 'em!

;-(

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:57 | 6471696 buzzkillb
buzzkillb's picture

The one time I got stuck on a jury, for saying I hate lawyers, it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. I took noted for 5 days. I just wrote $ over and over. At the end I tried to explain why whatever was going on wasn't happening, here lets go read some of the evidence. An old lady hit my hand as soon as I reached for the evidence. Then I said hold on let me get my notes out. Some of the table laughed when they saw me scan the many pages of $'s over and over again. I then reasoned what these other people wanted was infinite money for the "victim". The worst part was that they were willing to give whatever amount into the straosphere after that. These are not my peers. These are completely brain dead things and I would never ever want to go in front of a jury.

Don't get me started on what a POS the system is when my parents were getting divorced. I will use that next time I am asked why I don't want to be near a courtroom. Most lawyers are scumbags. All judges appear to be higher scumbags.

If I wear a jury nullification polo into the building, do I automatically go to jail?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:41 | 6471746 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

In my grown up college days, 35+, I was a sore on the side of the instructors because I would actually argue with them.

Had a class on some sort of advanced business law, don't remember it's actual name, but it was university level.  I told the instructor that he was full of shit, juries were the butcher, the baker, the candlestickmaker, and they personally knew the defendent, they knew their family and they knew his/her personal circumstances because everything was small town based.  And that they also ruled on the law as it pertained to that individual with all their baggage.  And the jury could simply say the law is unjust and it does not apply, or even that the law is unjust and cannot apply in any circumstance.

Heated argument, in class, a bunch of 18/19'/20 year olds.  (I probably shouldn't have told this lawyer to go fuck himseilf.  It was disrepectful.)

Next day, he sees me going to Accounting IV and calls me over.

"You're right, I went and researched.  Just don't be an asshole about it, and don't make yourself a target.  When your in MY fucking class you shut the fuck up or you fail."

Only three weeks left in it, but fellow students said it was the most boring three weeks they ever endured.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:25 | 6471581 Skiprrrdog
Skiprrrdog's picture

Fucking *A*. Prosecutors and judges, whether appointed or required to run in a race, are political beasts, and as such, any concept of justice, right, wrong, go right out the window, because they are only worried about their political careers. They should all have their privates stapled to maglev trains so we could see how fast they can run...

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 22:59 | 6471389 blindman
blindman's picture

everyone should be taught from birth
not to play into the hands of the stupid.
just sayin'.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:00 | 6471392 UGrev
UGrev's picture

Bad press is good press for Jury Nullification. It sucks that he had to go through that, but the bright side is maybe more people will hear about it.

 

Anarchism is the only way out..

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:08 | 6471419 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

I haven't heard the term, but I was on a jury a few years back...mom with two kids charged with 420 possesion and intent to distribute..small time dealer selling to survive..ended with a plea deal...guilty of possesion, but not distribution...I would not have found her guilty of anything...no guns, no violence...it's a bad situation with kids and all, but jail would make it worse...she needs a psycologist more than a warden.

Society failed her, so society wants to lock her up?...30 years ago, she could have supported her family building washers and toasters at a factory and made decent money.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:20 | 6471456 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

Where is the father? Did she divorce him and chase him off? Or never married but had kids. That happens a lot, and I don't feel sorry for people like that. Neither should you.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:36 | 6471486 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

It's not a matter of "feeling sorry"; it's about serving justice.

Sending her to jail, over something that is now legal in multiple states, would not have been "justice"; it would have compounded her bad situation which comes right back and smacks the rest of us in the face with FAT TAX BILLS to pay for her "incarceration".

There is no perfect solution, but a conviction was the worst possible outcome...it was to no one's benefit BUT THE INCARCERATION INDUSTRY!

As for the dad, a guy was sitting with her as the jury was seated for selection...don't know their relationship...but it was definitely her kids.

We've got to stop WRECKING PEOPLES LIVES over STUPID SHIT...plenty of folks, myself excluded, did some pretty stupid, and illegal, shit in their teens and twenties, fortunately they weren't "caught" which allowed them to go on and lead productive lives..had they been "caught"...having a criminal record slams a lot of doors....leaving only more crime as a potential option...

 

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:39 | 6471499 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Was she selling to minors?  If consenting adults then fine.  Minors are judged, and by definition, not able to take that kind of responsibility.  This is why merchants are punished when caught selling cigs and booze to kids.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:44 | 6471510 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

"Was she selling to minors?"

Never got that far..she took the plea deal during lunch if I remember right.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:24 | 6471466 cheeseheader
cheeseheader's picture

'Society failed her' ...

 

Really?  Perhaps she failed society.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:40 | 6471501 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

I went through the public school system...at about age 24, it hit me hard as to how badly society had failed me when it came to education...that was 30+ years ago.

At that time, my dumb-ass could get a factory job for a living...today society FAILS even MORE than 30 years ago when it comes to public k12 education...and the factory jobs are gone...YEAH...SOCIETY FAILED, and continues to fail, A LOT OF US...

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:02 | 6471397 Deathstar
Deathstar's picture

Protesting does not work...
Voting does not work...

This is the last means for REAL change before other remedies need to be taken.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:23 | 6471462 JLee2027
JLee2027's picture

The whole thing is going to go bang crash boom. Better the bad people be in office and the people can take vengenance than trying to fix this mess now, as it appears "unfixable" to me. 

 

While you may be frustrated nothing has worked...they have trapped themselves, and there is no way out.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:41 | 6471507 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

100%.

It would be an unholy disaster if someone like a Dr. Paul were elected President only to take the blame for everything that is coming down the pike.  Far better a Hitlery or, sadly as he seems a decent enough guy for a career politician, Socialist Sanders be at the helm when we break up on the rocks.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 05:42 | 6471879 OldTrooper
OldTrooper's picture

No sympathy for Sanders.  He's either an utter idiot or he's a disingenuous scumbag.  I see nothing admirable either way.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 23:13 | 6476168 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Soap Box broken? Check.

Ballot Box broken?  double-check!

Jury Box broken? almost.

Ammo Box is all that's left...

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:09 | 6471424 let it burn
let it burn's picture

Colobrahdo, where hipster "men" wear skinnier jeans than girls.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:11 | 6471429 Cabreado
Cabreado's picture

The Controller element is losing... there will be hangers-on... they are pesky irritants in the process of restoring Principle and Law as first orders of business.

 

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:11 | 6471430 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

Back in 2011, prosecutors charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to passers-by.

He was being prosecuted for jury tampering because he stood outside a federal courthouse in New York handing out pamphlets with the following language:

The judge will instruct the jury that it must uphold the law as he gives it. He will be lying.

The jury must judge the law as well as the facts.

Juries were instituted to protect citizens from the tyranny of the government.

It is not the duty of the jury to uphold the law. It is the jury's duty to see that justice is done....

Once on a jury, must I use the law as given by the judge, even if I think it's a bad law, or wrongly applied?

The answer is "No. You are free to vote on the verdict according to your conscience."

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:34 | 6471489 Apply Force
Apply Force's picture

Thanks for the pamphlet text - always good to have easy ways to remind others not to be slaves.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:32 | 6471673 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

"It is not the duty of the jury to uphold the law. It is the jury's duty to see that justice is done...."

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:12 | 6471434 Goldilocks
Goldilocks's picture

Coolio ft. L.V - Gangsta's Paradise (Official Music Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGbzYlnz7c (4:14)

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:12 | 6471435 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

Mr. Scott Martinez,

Thank You for supporting the rights of the Citizenry to Free Speech, Due Process, and to the utilizization of Jury Nullification in the pursuit of justice in the courts.

 

-ThroxxOfVron

 

You can thank him, too:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmartinez

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:37 | 6471496 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

+1M

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:16 | 6471444 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

I would never convict anyone without video, and even then I would be skeptical. Everything can be faked, testimony, fingerprints, DNA, etc. They just bring in an "expert" who is shopped and paid and it's conviction time. The justice system in the US is fundamentally corrupt.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:39 | 6471500 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

I would never convict anyone of anything where there is not a clear victim. That rules out any drug transactions/use and any crimes against the state. That's gotta be a big chunk of all jury cases right there.  Hell.  given the barbarous conditions in prisons I might even let off a petty criminal first timer and let the victim go after him in civil court.  Wayyyyyy to many people in jail as it is.

 

 

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:45 | 6471512 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Wayyyyyy too many people raped, murdered, or made hardened criminals in jail as it is.

FIFY

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:46 | 6471515 JamaicaJim
JamaicaJim's picture

FUCKIN A CORRECT.

THE PRISON "SYSTEM" IS OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL.

DEATH BY FIRE TO THE MOTHERFUCKERS WHO IMPRISON PEOPLE FOR "TECHNICAL" AND "CONSPIRACY" BULLSHIT...AND A HOST OF OTHER FUCKING ASSWIPE "STATUTES"....FOR MONEY.

MAY THEIR COCKS FALL OF/PUSSIES ROT.....FUCKTWATS

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:10 | 6471522 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

"Wayyyyyy to many people in jail "

 

When policing and prisons are utilized as engines of parasitic rent seeking, run for profit by both government bureaucracy and private corporate interests, the police/gulag state is both the objective and the outcome.

Law enforcement, the judiciary, and the prison industries have become as much parasites, and exhibit most of the same charcteristics and protocols, as those 'anti-social and criminal elements' they purport to control, sequester, punish, and cull.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:19 | 6471449 shankster
shankster's picture

I left Colorado 12 years ago...never been back and don't plan on it either.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:16 | 6471569 Skiprrrdog
Skiprrrdog's picture

Same here... there is a reason why they have sayings like "Colorado, come here on vacation, leave on probation"

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:20 | 6471454 stant
stant's picture

When it comes it will be ruthless , best be in a god place , let it pass over

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:30 | 6471457 Louie the Dog
Louie the Dog's picture

I believe in driving while totally shitfaced so I never vote to convict when serving on a  DUI case jury.  Also, what's with these domestic battery laws?  I mean, if you can't beat the crap out of your wife what kind of world are we living in? Yeah, I'm all for this jury nullification stuff.  So many bullshit laws. 

I'm nullifying all down votes.

 

 

 

 

 

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:36 | 6471492 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

 

Rather than offer up something so obviously lame, how about citing some better examples of why you're against the procedure?

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:59 | 6471545 Louie the Dog
Louie the Dog's picture

If I have to explain to you the inherent problem with jurors picking and choosing what laws to uphold and which to ignore then I have no other choice but to nullify you.  You are hereby nullified  Go away.

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:08 | 6471554 coast
coast's picture

your point is well taken...people are stupid for the most part, but our system is so extremely corrupt, the jurors are all we have...You did know that some judges went to jail for taking bribes to put teens in prison for the pay for profit stuff yeah? 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:19 | 6471574 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

The people have no other say in the law, since the idea of elected politicians creating laws is a laughable farce.  They certainly don't represent "the people" and we have no way of NOT electing these little bastards.  Who voted in the drug laws?  Who voted in any laws at all?

The people have no voice and no say in any law that is imposed on them by their masters.  Picking and choosing is called freedom, yet we have people who think freedom is unthinkable.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:41 | 6471598 coast
coast's picture

I want you on my jury when all I want is freedom and truth...I dont wanna hurt anyone. some speak of guillotines (sp) for the bankers...I just want to make an island where they can just be away from us...And they can have all the stuff they give us...flouride in their water, GMO food etc....

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:05 | 6471956 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

I want them shot straight up the asshole with a .410 shotgun and left to contort and bleed out in extreme agony.

As an example.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:36 | 6471741 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

yeah its pretty obvious to any one with a half a brain that putting people in prison for smoking marajuana is itself a criminal action and therefore we are living in a society and system rife with fraud.  we live in the matrix. 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:25 | 6471727 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

Dude, the ZH crowd is generally pretty intelligent and you are getting quite a few down votes.  Darwin has a plan for you, my friend.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:01 | 6471818 pac522
pac522's picture

Jury Nullification, the final check in the checks and balances.

 

I see your go away and raise you one check and balance.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:22 | 6472122 Abaco
Abaco's picture

So you think they are too stupid to judge the law but fully equipped to judge the facts?  Seems to me you are the one who is oxygen deprived from the self-inflicted head/ass insertion exercises you have been practicing.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:40 | 6471504 coast
coast's picture

I know a guy who was a great guy...he loved his family and his wife. But his wife started cheating, and what she did was hit herself on a door and then blamed the husband.  The jury saw thru it fortunately, even tho the DA tried his best to put the guy in jail..

you dont get the point of jury nullification.  Bad people should go to jail, but many who go to jail are not bad people, and the jury needs to not let the corporate owned judge who takes bribes make their decision for them....are you getting this now asshole?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:15 | 6471567 Louie the Dog
Louie the Dog's picture

Come on, that's not jury nullification, moron, that's a jury not having the evidence to convict.  Have you ever even sat on a jury, fool?  I'm nullifying you. Go to bed.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:32 | 6472164 prymythirdeye
prymythirdeye's picture

I don't answer any questions, officer

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:56 | 6471622 Buster Cherry
Buster Cherry's picture

I bet you polished the chrome off your badge and dont give a fuck how sweaty you get wearing that black uniform in the summer heat....as long as you feel you project authority.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:29 | 6471671 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

I smell .. BACON.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:22 | 6471721 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

looks like you have a lot of nullifying to do

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:53 | 6472238 Deathstar
Deathstar's picture

Fuck off Oinker!

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:34 | 6471487 Flankspeed60
Flankspeed60's picture

In a sane world, absent corruption, 'law' and 'justice' would be indistinguishable, undifferentiated. As it is, they are but distant cousins, and certainly not on speaking terms.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:34 | 6471488 coast
coast's picture

how many people are in prison because they smoked a plant that grows out of the ground, but the FDA approves oxycotin for young teens..  ALl drugs should be legalized...ALL of them.. only to put the CIA out of business....buy physical silver to shut down JP Morgan, and legalize drugs to shut down the cia. Oh my, a guy selling some marijuana, put him in prison....

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:37 | 6471494 geekz_rule
geekz_rule's picture

I was a member of this guy's FB group.. in support.. just went to post this to the group.. and it's been fucking deleted! fuck the system!

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:47 | 6471517 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

LMFAO - You still use FB.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:13 | 6471553 techpreist
techpreist's picture

There is in fact one good use for FB: Ad impressions are ~25 cents/thousand, so for 20 bucks you can send a Twitter-sized message/invite out to a max of 80,000 people. Really great for one-off petitions, etc.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:15 | 6472101 conscious being
conscious being's picture

You get what you pay for. Consider the quality. FB is for someone obliivious.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:00 | 6471547 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 My guess is that his council advised him to delete the page so as not to incriminate himself in any way, or divulge potentially any information the prosecution could use against the case.

 This guy will probably be aquitted of all charges.

Tue, 08/25/2015 - 23:53 | 6471529 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

Take it to trial. Then burn thru jurors until the judge tosses the whole thing. Tell the judge right up front you are looking for smart jurors.

 

 

 Its Denver.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:00 | 6471538 Rusty Shorts
Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:10 | 6471559 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

If voting mattered, they'd kill you, or at least arrest you.

Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.

 

Drops of water are nothing much to be reckoned with. Many drops, a river, are mighty.
Words of ideas, are nothing much to be reckoned with. Many words, a truth, are mighty.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:24 | 6471580 coast
coast's picture

We shout but few listen...I read a book and it said "even the elect will be deceived"...

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:55 | 6471621 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

"if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:24

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:46 | 6471691 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

I learned about the Khazars, aka the Ashkenazi, and the Talmud this weekend--actually still studying them, but the "intro" is complete.

Putting it all together, I now know what these two quotes mean:

Revelation 2:9 - KJV
"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."

Revelation 3:9 - KJV
"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."

Putting it all together can often seem like assembling a puzzle of a million pieces, but the ah-ha moments like above make it well worth it.

Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:00 | 6471697 Iudaea Delenda Est
Iudaea Delenda Est's picture

everyone quotes that damned book.  the book is nonsense except insofar as it guides the stupid and the dangerous.

 

The Torah and Talmud are little more than fake history for an ethnic mafia {sorry - ethnicity did and does lay at the heart of the thing, that it is not quite "the same" ethnicity as 2300 years ago doesn't change the teleology of the text per se}.

 

That said, the New Testament, while mostly about Roman control of the mob in the Levant and eastern Med as the Germans were awakening never stopped its adherents from being blood thirsty anti-human, anti-nature imbeciles.

 

Still, I do admire the cleverness.  The Christian Zionists, the Evangelicals have had their brains completely compromised by a hostile parasitic meme.

“Zionism vs The Prince of Peace”

 

they will have to pay for their love of war and suffering before the end.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:15 | 6471565 coast
coast's picture

If I could actually get a jury of my peers, I would pick zerohedgers....some of you suck, but at least I would get a hung jury..lol...love u all

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:25 | 6471582 Monetas
Monetas's picture

That POS O J Simpson got some jury nullification .... when he hacked two people to death .... may he rot in Hell !

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:16 | 6472107 surf2liv
surf2liv's picture

Khazars run the Fed...they run the drug trade in LA..OJ was setup...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l9bLhGDtW8

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:31 | 6471589 Falling Down
Falling Down's picture

I have grand jury duty here in NY the second week of September, and if the statists like me enough they've got me through early October. Never been on one, just a stupid city court case dealing with ghetto breeding rights/baby mama/baby daddy issues.

There's a major case making its way through federal court here in town which ensnared the county exec, I'd love to be on that one at trial, but it would probably ruin me financially. My luck if they like me enough (after asking a few questions), and end up on a DWI or low level drug case.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:03 | 6471635 NoBillsOfCredit
NoBillsOfCredit's picture

Grand Juries don't participate in trials. You should do your duty and get educated about Grand Juries before going or you will be the tool of the prosecutor.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 00:52 | 6471616 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

I left the scumbag prosecutor profession because, well, "scumbags." Also, the black leather trenchcoat was too hot in summer.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:17 | 6471656 onmail
onmail's picture

These laws are nothingButFartsComingOuttaHomObamma'sA$$

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:57 | 6471849 22winmag
22winmag's picture

I prefer to call them unenforceable toilet paper, buy you can have it your way. After all, the smell is overpowering.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:22 | 6471664 BouncingCat
BouncingCat's picture

Time to charge the district attorney with something. Let his jury figure out justice for him.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:27 | 6471669 Iudaea Delenda Est
Iudaea Delenda Est's picture

Arrest those cops.

And give them a "rough ride"

 

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 01:55 | 6471695 Fíréan
Fíréan's picture

Denver Chief Judge Michael Martinez, who on Thursday issued an order barring demonstrations, protests, distributing literature, proselytizing and other activities on the courthouse grounds.

 

City Attorney Scott Martinez said his staff argued that the Denver judge’s order was overly broad. They also argued against arrests targeting people handing out jury nullification literature.

 

Is this  a family matter, or just a coincidence of the names of the opposing Denver City Attorney and Chief Judge ?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:06 | 6471700 scatha
scatha's picture

If you do not believe that the law is just, a as jurror you may acquit regardles the evidences. I saw it in case of legal drug impair driving case. It's all legal.

but people have been arrested telling it to prospective jurrors.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 02:14 | 6471710 emorybored
emorybored's picture

First time I heard "Jury Nullification" was after the OJ verdict. Maybe they meant "Evidence Nullification"?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:43 | 6471838 MSimon
MSimon's picture

I watched the OJ trial. Avidly. And it is my view that given ALL the evidence presented the prosecution did not make its case.

 

I later heard from some one close to OJ's lawyers that he did it.

 

But karma and his character caught up with him. Not perfectly. But well enough.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 03:58 | 6471808 pac522
pac522's picture

Four years ago, prosecutors in New York City charged a retired chemistry professor with jury tampering after he stood outside a federal courthouse handing out information on jury nullification. But Judge Kimba M. Wood of federal district court wouldn’t buy it. She ruled that prosecutors needed to show the protester meant to influence jurors in a specific case, and dismissed all charges.

theres case precedent But..

Justice would be to have his case jury nullified.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:03 | 6471821 bluez
bluez's picture

So we were called to jury duty. Some clerk or other told us that if we wished to serve we should line up on the right side of the room. Those who chose to shirk their duty with some excuse were asked to line up on the left side.

I simply remained in the middle. They ordered me to take one side or the other. I said I couldn't make up my mind. Was no good at making such decisions.

They simply asked me to go home.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:41 | 6471837 medium giraffe
medium giraffe's picture

He shouldn't be misleading people into thinking that they have 'rights' rather than 'privileges'.

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 05:13 | 6471841 NuYawkFrankie
NuYawkFrankie's picture

re Mark Iannicelli, 56, set up a small booth with a sign that said “Juror Info” ... arrested....

Ahemmm... Mr Iannicelli: 'Free Speech' is now strictly verboten in the  Constitution-Nullified USSA.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 04:58 | 6471848 22winmag
22winmag's picture

I'm surprised he wasn't shot.

 

To my knowledge, even a whipser of jury nullification inside the courtroom (or perhaps even outside the courtroom) is grounds for a mistrial in every state except NH, where it's a right codified in law.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 09:56 | 6472638 Abaco
Abaco's picture

It is codified in the Marylnad Constitution.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:14 | 6471975 Pumpkin
Pumpkin's picture

As someone pointed out on another forum, does this man get a jury trial?  Will the jury be able to examine the pamplets (evidence)?  LoL! 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:34 | 6472011 Able Ape
Able Ape's picture

I hope I get picked for a jury involving someone being tried for selling weed...jury nullification, here I come...

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:36 | 6472015 Mitch Comestein
Mitch Comestein's picture

One point to also consider is that the JUDGE can set aside the jury verdict when he believes they did not follow the laws in their verdict.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:40 | 6472027 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Pretty much a 100% guarantee of an appeal though; Judges don't like losing appeals.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:06 | 6472690 Abaco
Abaco's picture

He cannot set aside a verdict of innocent.  He can set aside a verdict of guilty.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 07:38 | 6472023 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

And in ironic twist, he fails to be prosecuted due to nullification.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:59 | 6472153 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Good article ZH, because like many of your articles, it gets people thinking about important issues.

However, based on the post traffic, it looks like not everyone is responding to the same issue, and there are at least two major issues the posters are responding to, even if that was not the intent of the article:

1)      Is it a constitutional (and other) right to distribute information about “jury nullification”, and more narrowly defined, near a courthouse that is likely to be frequented by many jurors?

2)      Is the concept of “jury nullification” unambiguously a good thing for society in general?

It seems to me that it is a lot easier to agree with issue 1) (meaning this right IS protected) than issue 2).  Issue 1) is somewhat obviously a free speech issue, and therefore the ZH demography (and most reasonable people) are likely to answer in the affirmative because we inherently abhor limitations on our free speech.

However, I would submit, that issue 2) is far less obvious, at least in my mind.

Jury nullification sounds great, as long as it applies to the prosecution of the laws YOU don’t like. I think many of our anarchist responders are spoiled by the structure (imperfect that it is) that having a system of laws gives to our society (because they have never truly experience the absence of law that some of them espouse).

For example, they are happy to have jury nullification apply if it lets them avoid a “weed” conviction, because they can get some juror to agree that making weed illegal is unjust, even if many Americans anticipated the problems that we are now experiencing in our society from that legalization and continue to agree that it should remain illegal.

Would they feel the same way about jury nullification if it ended up freeing a police officer from a police brutality charge, based on liberal laws that another juror might feel are also “unjust”?

The problem with “jury nullification” is that in some cases it gives too much power to jurors that may not in fact be very good judges of what laws are and are not unjust.  Frankly, that is why we have a legislature and court system.  We don’t want a system where a rouge juror can completely circumvent the will of the people – even if we are uncomfortable that our current system of government always reflects that will.

Unless we intend to allow every jury trial to become a legal interpretation free-for-all, with prosecutorial veto power being awarded to the most lenient juror's interpretation of what constitutes "justice", IMO there needs to be controls on jury nullification, just like there needs to be controls on judicial activism (where the judge, in effect, legislates from the bench).

To the anarchists out there that are all in favor of unbridled jury nullification, I say be careful what you wish for.

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:08 | 6472710 Abaco
Abaco's picture

Damn you are stupid!  There is no point to a jury if the jury can be dorected how they must vote.  Don't trust the jurors?  Fine, then do away with the jury bit the country was founded with a much greater trust in the people, even the ignorant, than the government.  The reason is that the common person, though perhaps a dullard, is less likely to be a psychopath than anyone n government.

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 08:00 | 6476722 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Boy, you guys really like to put words in my mouth to prove your points.

I never said anything about not trusting jurors.

My point is that we need to trust jurors to do the ONLY job they are entitled to do, and that is to fairly judge the accused based on a uniformly adjudicated law of the land, not the law THEY decide they want to apply.

If you can't understand that basic distinction, I am not sure where we go next with this discussion.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:37 | 6472873 Ckierst1
Ckierst1's picture

The right of a jury to nullify bad law goes back to at least the colonial era (trial of William Penn and John Mead), if not further.  Jurors have suffered to administer honest justice and fail to impose injustice.  I trust 12 informed individuals off the street to deliver justice way more than I trust judges (particularly unelected judges and federal judges), D. A.s and lawyers.  At least those jurors have to live with the consequences of their actions.  It isn't perfect but at least it isn't left in the hands of agendized and ambitious politicos and bureaucrats.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 12:07 | 6473398 libertysghost
libertysghost's picture

I thought of the Zenger Trial as an example from colonial times as well.  

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:57 | 6472989 libertysghost
libertysghost's picture

A lot of words but not a lot of logic.  Bu extension you are arguing that it is OK for everyone else involved in the court to influence the decision except for the Jury, the Constitutionally determined group with the right to return the verdict.  Then the example you use...the police officer...ALREADY HAPPENS!  So how does that happen?  It's not because of jury nullification of course, it's because of all the other sources of "nullification" of law that exist in the system already.  I was really shocked you presented such a soft ball example thinking it proved your point somehow.  

 

And yes...in life, not everything that happens is always good or always bad.  Thanks for that nugget of wisdom.  oO

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 07:39 | 6476692 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

"Bu[By] extension you are arguing that it is OK for everyone else involved in the court to influence the decision except for the Jury, the constitutionally determined group with the right to return the verdict."

I suggest you actually understand the judicial system and my argument, before you attempt to "extend it" to make it easier to prove your point.

At no time in my post did I say or imply anything even remotely close to the argument you suggest I did "by extension".

Despite your apparent preferences, our legal system was designed to allow the UNIFORM application of the law as passed by our legislature and as interpreted by the judiciary, with the option of a jury trial composed of our peers that have been fairly chosen and properly charged by the judge.

It never says anything about affording individual jurors the right to apply whatever law they feel like after they are a part of a jury - if they just don't happen to agree with it.

If you don't believe that there exist constitutional checks on the power of the jury, I suggest that you investigate the multitude of mistrials that have been declared because the jury was mischarged by the judge, hung, tampered with, bribed, biased, etc.

My point is that like any other feature of our judicial system, there need to be checks and balances on the jury trial mechanism as well - and yes I repeat. YOU should be careful what you wish for.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 15:36 | 6474382 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

 A juror is ultimately

"free" to interpret the "facts" and vote however he/she chooses.

Call it nullification or whatever one wishes.

But to argue that a juror does NOT have that "right"

is also to contend there is never an instance when that "right"

should properly exist,  for anyone including a juror,

to refuse to obey an order,

or to refuse to help enforce a "law".

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 07:08 | 6476638 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Obviously you do not understand our current legal system.

When a juror is charged by the judge, the judge instructs the jury to freely consider the evidence, but he also instructs the jury that based on its consideration of that evidence, what its conclusions must be within the context of the law AS DEFINED BY THE LEGISLATURE.

A juror must apply the law as defined by the legislature, after due consideration of the facts of the case.

A juror is not entitled to change the law or refuse to enforce the law as defined by the legislature and instructed by the judge.

If a juror doesn't like the law as it exists on the books, it is a violation of his sworn duty as a juror to simply choose not to render his decision in accordance with the instructions of the judge.  He does have the right to recuse himself as a juror during jury selection if he believes that he is unwilling or unable to make a decision WITHING THE CONFINES OF THE LAW and as instructed by the judge.

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 11:36 | 6477560 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

Oaths have limits,

regardless what one may believe "American [sic] jurisprudence" contends should be without moral or ethical consideration.

At least since Nuremberg, it has been recognized that there indeed are ethical considerations which may over ride whatever the "law" purportedly claims or any oaths taken.

Neither the soldier nor the juror knows in advance of their oath what instructions they will subsequently be given. It is no honor to obey dishonorable instructions, commit foul deeds, or help enforce injustice.

Neither the oaths of jurors nor soldiers bind them to obey their immediate masters without any limit whatsoever.

The oft times difference between the 'spirit' of the law, and the written law has long been recognized.

The "law" of which we discuss was not handed down from the heavens. It is a work of mankind. In particular, it is a work of those in power, typically enforced to retain their advantage.

However convenient it may be to worship the codified "law" as justice personified, it is not.

To deny the foregoing is merely wilful ignorance to support an easy cop-out

to having responsibility for one's actions.

 

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 08:51 | 6472229 rejected
rejected's picture

"Denver prosecutors have charged a man with seven counts of jury tampering"

Jury Tampering? The Defense, Prosecutors and Judges spend all day fixing the jury. That's why it's an all day ordeal when your picked for juror duty. Then when it finally goes to court the Judge is constantly telling the jury what they can and cannot do.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 09:00 | 6472262 silverer
silverer's picture

The US isn't like that  Jay and The Americans song "Only In America" anymore now, is it?

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 09:02 | 6472276 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

So is this guy in jail while waiting to be found guilty or not guilty?

Fuck prosecutors.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:10 | 6472720 Abaco
Abaco's picture

Better to swing for the fences with a louisville slugger right at their heads.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 10:02 | 6472661 painlord-2k
painlord-2k's picture

Suggestion:
Could someone just give out phamplet to non-jurors?
Just make it so jurors know there is something people are forbidden to tell them about.

Curiosity killed the cat.

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 11:02 | 6473023 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

Judicial Heresy !!

Call the thought police !

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 11:09 | 6473074 Turdy Brown
Turdy Brown's picture

Man I learn a lot of shit by reading ZH! 

Thanks ZH and especially ZH posters.  You guys/girls are the smartest people that I know!

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 11:54 | 6473333 Livermore Legend
Livermore Legend's picture

"In his order granting the injunction, Chief Judge William Martinez said the jury nullification information is protected speech. "There appears to be no contest on this point".......

In Conclusion:

"Finally, as with irreparable injury and the balancing of interests, it is almost always in the public interest to prevent a First Amendment Violation......."

Indeed......

Despite it's many flaws, Our American Jurisprudence is still the best Legal System Humanity has yet to devise.



Wed, 08/26/2015 - 16:14 | 6474646 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

What is  American jurisprudence?

"Jurisprudence is more a formal than a material science. It has no direct concern with questions of moral or political policy, for they fall under the province of ethics and legislation."
Law Dictionary
http://thelawdictionary.org/jurisprudence/

" Despite it's [sic] many flaws, Our American Jurisprudence is still the best ..."
- Livermore Legend

Exceptionalism displayed at its finest. "American" no doubt meant to exclude all of the Americas except for the USA.

Proudly devoid of morality or ethics. The law is said not about justice.
It is the best law money can buy.

The best at incarcerating the greatest quantity of its human citizens.
The best at ignoring war crimes, torture, and financial robbery.
The best at protecting corporate "persons".
The best at approving Orwellian surveillance.
The best at surrendering to lame excuses of "national security".

Wed, 08/26/2015 - 21:43 | 6475922 D-2
D-2's picture

What am I supposed to say when BOTH lawyers ask me if I would ignore my own convictions and rule based only on what the law states?  That's what happened last time I was called.  The defense lawyer was my own personal attorney, so I would not have made it anyway, but they both asked the question. 

It's JMHO, but I think that question should be illegal.

Thu, 08/27/2015 - 15:44 | 6477917 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

D-2

"...based only on what the law [?] states"

and the limited evidence ...

according to how I am told to interpret that by the judge,

no matter how unreasonable, unfair, unjust, malicious, incomplete, or unConstitutional

the stated law, the evidence, or the judge's interpretation/instruction may in fact  be.

...

[Then, if so, you are deemed a "perfect" juror for the legal system.]

 

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