^^^ This!^^^ If people were more aware of the power our state and federal Constitutions recognizes of the individual, our problems would be WAAAAAAAY less!From the Indiana Constitution; Section 19. In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts.
A juror actively soliciting nullification could be removed by the judge anytime prior to the conclusion of jury deliberations, which would probably result in a mistrial.They couldn't remove you for the actual cause of "juror elected to use jury nullification." If you make your case to the other jurors, and they agree you give the verdict and the judge can suck it if he or anyone else in the country doesn't like it.
If nullification is the "right" of the jury, then criminals should be free to nullify too, right?
If a group can ignore the law, then why not the individual?
And who then can say which laws people may or may not ignore?
A recent example: the OJ verdict. Right or wrong?
A juror actively soliciting nullification could be removed by the judge anytime prior to the conclusion of jury deliberations, which would probably result in a mistrial.
A jury can acquit without nullifying, by finding the facts did not prove the offense. But if society is too unengaged to choose the legislature, judiciary, and executive with care, jury nullification isn't going to do much to reverse the trend toward more governmental power.
If nullification is the "right" of the jury, then criminals should be free to nullify too, right? If a group can ignore the law, then why not the individual? And who then can say which laws people may or may not ignore?
A recent example: the OJ verdict. Right or wrong?
If citizens have the right to ignore the enacted laws, then how about vigilante justice, if some people believe the laws are too lax?
Sure, you've got to convince the other jurors, but getting most people convinced of their right to nullify is a rough go.
Nullification only takes 1 juror...
...am I wrong?
I see. True "nullifications" must be pretty rare. Thanks for the reply.Kind of. One juror can hang the jury and prevent a conviction in that particular trial. However, this results in a mistrial and the person can usually be tried again with a different jury.
To truly nullify, you have to get a unanimous "not guilty" so jeopardy attaches and there can be no retrial.
Thanks for sharing that.I am sure it has been posted before....
Fully Informed Jury Association
Some good reading on their site.