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Topic: Jury nullification

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	Jury nullification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Jury nullification is a jury's refusal to render a verdict according to the law, as instructed by the court, regardless of the weight of evidence presented.
		Jury nullification is a de facto power of the jury, and is not ordinarily described as a right.
		A jury's ability to nullify the law is further supported by two common law precedents: the prohibition on punishing jury members for their verdict, and the prohibition on retrying criminal defendants after an acquittal (see related topic double jeopardy).
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Jury_nullification (2184 words)

	A History of Jury Nullification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		The power of the jury to judge the justice of the law and to hold laws invalid by a finding of "not guilty" for any law a juror felt was unjust or oppres-sive, dates back to the Magna Carta, in 1215.
		The jury’s nullification in this case is praised in history textbooks as a hallmark of freedom of the press in the United States.
		Despite the courts’ refusal to inform jurors of their historical veto power, jury nullification in liquor law trials was a major contributing factor in ending alcohol prohibition.
	www.tlmp.org /history_of_jurynullification.htm (1616 words)

	Jury Nullification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		Jury nullification is the power and ability of a criminal trial jury, federal or state, to acquit the defendant not only on the "facts" of the case but to declare the law illegal, nonsensical, or otherwise simply not justifiably enforceable.
		It is the duty of the court to instruct the jury as to the law, and it is the duty of the jury to follow the law, as it is laid down by the court.
		The same year, the jury was given the right by statute to decide law as well as fact, but the jurors had the option to return a special verdict for a general verdict subject to the opinion of the court on a point stated.
	home.earthlink.net /~dlaw70/jurnul.htm (3072 words)

	Jury Nullification
		The first case in which juries nullified a law was that of William Penn and William Mead in England in 1670 The jurors refused to convict the two Quaker activists charged with unlawful assembly.
		Jury nullification was introduced into America in 1735 in the trial of John Peter Zenger, Printer of The New York Weekly Journal.
		In recent years, jury nullification has played a role in the trials of Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, DC for drug use, Oliver North for his role in the Iran-Contra Affair, and Bernhard Goetz for his assault in a New York City subway.
	www.personal.psu.edu /faculty/j/p/jph13/JuryNullification.html (762 words)

	Jury Nullification: History, questions and answers about nullification, links
		Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a verdict of "Not Guilty" despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged.
		The most famous nullification case is the 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger, charged with printing seditious libels of the Governor of the Colony of New York, William Cosby.
		Some judges also have pointed out that jury nullification has had both positive and negative applications--the negative applications including some notorious cases in which all-white southern juries in the 1950s and 1960s refused to convict white supremacists for killing fls or civil rights workers despite overwhelming evidence of their guilt.
	www.law.umkc.edu /faculty/projects/ftrials/zenger/nullification.html (789 words)

	Drug Policy Alliance: Jury Nullification FAQ
		Jury nullification can be (and has been) used for unjust as well as admirable ends.
		Because juries do not have the right to be informed about nullification, they can learn of their power to nullify from sources outside the courtroom, such as articles they may have read or televised legal dramas.
		Similarly, juries may wish to nullify ad hoc in the cases of people convicted of dealing hard drugs (because they think such drug dealing should be illegal and is rightly classified as deserving of a prescribed punishment), but that the punishment is too harsh for particular defendants.
	www.drugpolicy.org /law/marijuana/jurynull (766 words)

	ISIL -- A History of Jury Nullification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		The power of the jury to judge the justice of the law and to hold laws invalid by a finding of "not guilty" for any law a juror felt was unjust or oppressive, dates back to the Magna Carta, in 1215.
		Zenger's defense asked the jury to make use of their own consciences and, even though the judge ruled that the truth was no defense, they acquitted him.
		Despite the courts refusal to inform jurors of their historical veto power, jury nullification in liquor-law trials was a major contributing factor in ending alcohol prohibition.
	www.free-market.net /resources/lit/history-jury-null.html (1685 words)

	Word Spy - jury nullification
		The act of a jury finding a person not guilty because they believe the law under which the defendant was charged is unfair, misguided, or not applicable.
		Nullification also is profoundly undemocratic, because it allows a minority of 12 people to overrule the state legislature that passed the law that the jury is refusing to apply.
		Juries have always considered such questions in their deliberations, and since their work is secret and not open to review, juries have often turned to nullification to free the unjustly accused.
	www.wordspy.com /words/jurynullification.asp (959 words)

	Jury Nullification
		Juries are charged today with the responsibility of reaching a verdict based on the facts of a case within the law as it is explained by the trial judge.
		Almost since the beginning of the jury in England, however, jurors have engaged in "nullification," where the jury exercises its discretion "in favor of a defendant whom the jury nonetheless believes to have committed the act with which he is charged" (Green, 1985).
		When people suspect that it has occurred, nullification is seen as a fundamental threat to the rule of law, a triumph of democratic government, or (paradoxically) a little of both.
	www.crfc.org /americanjury/nullification.html (271 words)

	Jurors' Handbook: Citizens Guide to Jury Duty
		The judge instructed the jury that truth is not justification for libel.
		That is the power of the jury at work; the power to decide the issues of law under which the defendant is charged, as well as the facts.
		Another quote from US vs Dougherty (cited earlier): "The fact that there is widespread existence of the jury's prerogative, and approval of its existence as a necessary counter to case-hardened judges and arbitrary prosecutors, does not establish as an imperative that the jury must be informed by the judge of that power".
	deoxy.org /juryrite.htm (1596 words)

	Jury Nullification and the Rule of Law
		He said that the O.J. verdict was an example of "jury nullification" and that the whole idea of jury nullification was a violation of the rule of law.
		Jury nullification is not a violation of the rule of law because it is part of the rule of law.
		The jury is the last line of defense, the last check and balance, against tyrannical government, if, that is, it is charged with determining the justice of a case and not just with blindly applying the law as given by a judge.
	www.friesian.com /nullif.htm (3703 words)

	Jury Nullification
		This case was the mother of all jury nullification.
		Though not widely known, juries in Washington, D.C., a federal district, having become increasingly aware that they have the power not to convict, routinely refuse to convict African-American men for certain offenses-mainly drug law violations-because of the suspicion that these laws are draconian impact negatively beyond the charged offense.
		She stated unequivocally that had the jury known the federal government was going to give them such severe sentences, they never would have been convicted.
	www.november.org /razorwire/rzold/04/0412.html (730 words)

	Curt Chancler - Jeanne Wollman -- Jury Rights! Jury Nullification
		Jury nullification allows the citizen to judge the law as it applies to the case.
		“Jury stacking” is a common tactic of Oregon judges and attorneys who select only those who promise to abide by the direction of the court as to the law.
		The jury is our last protection against tyrannical law and an out of control government that only pays lip service to our rights and their oath of office.
	www.newswithviews.com /guest_opinion/guest34.htm (1262 words)

	Lone Star Fully Informed Jury Assoc jury duty, nullification
		An accused party's rights to trial by jury, where government is an opposing party, includes the right to inform the jurors of their power to judge the law as well as the evidence, and to vote on the verdict according to conscience.
		Jury nullification is an important way to inform governmental representatives about the changing conscience and values of the community, free from special interest pressure.
		Jefferson believed that juries can hold governments in check because they have the power and the right to find verdicts of "not guilty" when they think the law is unjust - even when the facts say that the accused has broken the law.
	www.juryduty.org (887 words)

	Who Nullified Jury Nullification by Jack Lawrence
		Juries could and did nullify before and during the American Revolution, and this was a central reason that the right to jury trial appeared as it did in state Declarations of Rights circa 1776-1780.
		Secondly, Penn's case was relied on heavily in the jury nullification argument in the watershed John Peter Zenger case in 1735.
		Trial by jury cannot be considered as a natural right, but a right resulting from the social compact which regulates the action of the community, but is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature...
	www.juryduty.org /lawrence.htm (16553 words)

	POWER TO THE JURY (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		nlike juries of the past, modern juries are not usually advised that they're sitting in judgment of the law as much as in judgment of the defendant.
		For the past several years, prosecutors have complained that anti-government sentiment has produced hung juries and even outright dismissals in cases where the powers-that-be seem to be pursuing defendants as much for ideology as for actions.
		For decades, a 5 percent hung jury rate was considered the norm, derived from a landmark study of the American jury by Harry Kalven Jr.
	www.tlmp.org /powerto_the_jury.htm (1951 words)

	BuildFreedom.com - #FFP04: Jury Nullification
		Besides, the jury is supposed to be an independent force in the courtroom — the direct voice of the community, not controlled by politics or special interests or anything besides common sense and conscience.
		But juries were invented in order to provide a buffer between the accused and the state — to find their verdicts after review of both law and fact, and to match the punishment to the crime.
		Jury judgment of law can operate only in the direction of mercy, which may include a reduction of charges, provided the charge they choose is "wholly contained" within the original charge.
	www.buildfreedom.com /tl/ffp04.shtml (4782 words)

	Jury Nullification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		Spokesmen for FIJA advocate nullification as an important check to legislative power and the jury as an Article III “fourth branch ”7 of the government: Legislation, being the last pronouncement of the community standard by our General Assembly, is sometimes out of step or behind the times, since the community standard is forever evolving.
		Even if the juror’s vote amounts to jury nullification and flies in the face of the evidence and the law, they cannot be punished in any way.
		Supporters of nullification look to three definitions of nullification as justification for Constitutional defense: as an unstated “fundamental right;” as a function of the Sixth Amendment and the right to trial by jury; or as related to the Article III separation of powers.
	www.clr.org /jury-nullification-3.html (1184 words)

	The Juror's Web Site: Jury Nullification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		BYRON WHITE (1975): The purpose of a jury is to guard against the exercise of arbitrary power--to make available the common sense judgement of the community as a hedge against the overzealous or mistaken prosecutor and in preference to the professional or perhaps over conditioned or biased response of a judge.
		The jury's power to decide the law in returning a general verdict is indisputable.
		If the jury convicts, however, the defendant is entitled to a broad range of procedural protections to ensure that the jury was fair and honest.
	members.tripod.com /~jctMac/jurynull.html (3255 words)

	FOXNews.com - Justice Often Served By Jury Nullification - Blog \| Blogs \| Popular Blogs \| Video Blogs
		What the jury didn't know — and wasn't allowed to hear — was that Rosenthal was not only growing the marijuana for medical patients, he was growing the stuff for the city of Oakland.
		The doctrine of jury nullification (search) rests on two truths about the American criminal justice system: (1) Jurors can never be punished for the verdict they return, and (2) Defendants cannot be retried once a jury has found them not guilty, regardless of the jury's reasoning.
		The first case of jury nullification in British law came in the trial of William Mead (search) and William Penn (search), the latter of whom would go on to found the province of Pennsylvania.
	www.foxnews.com /story/0,2933,163877,00.html (1226 words)

	Jury Nullification
		to the jury for "it is the conscience of the jury
		The court instructed the jury that none of this
		The jury brought in a verdict of Not
	www.seark.net /~jlove/jury_null.htm (2952 words)

	Jury Nullification \| Right of Nullification \| English Common Law \| Questia.com Online Library (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-07)
		...evidence of guilt, is commonly referred to as "jury nullification.(21) The term "jury nullification" is actually a pejorative misnomer in that...issue.
		...particular--comes from the jury nullification activists of the Fully Informed...about their power to engage in "jury nullification"--the raw and undisclosed power...they...
		...in the current debates about jury nullification,(50) it is important to note...reply suggested that he viewed jury nullification (which clearly appears to have...verdict...
	www.questia.com /library/law/trials/jury-nullification.jsp (465 words)

	Erowid Freedom Vault : Jury Nullification
		An Essay on the Trial by Jury (1852)
		Jury Nullification is a Tool for Chaos Foster's Online, 2003 (archive.org)
		Trial By Jury, Clay S. Conrad, Cato Institute Dec 1998
	www.erowid.org /freedom/jury_nullification/jury_nullification.shtml (360 words)

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		BOOK REVIEW: WE, THE JURY -- by Jeffrey Abramson
		BOOK REVIEW: THE JURY: Trial and Error in the American Courtroom -- by Stephen J. Adler.
	nowscape.com /fija/fija_us.htm (162 words)

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