Understanding Jury Nullification
This article comes from nhmagazine.com
Juries can deliver a message to the court about unpopular laws
A New Orleans mayor famously warned federal officials after they closed down several well-established houses of prostitution that “you can make it illegal, but you can’t make it unpopular.” Well, in New Hampshire and around the country, that forecast may well be applied to marijuana.
The times are changing. Polls consistently show a growing majority of people support marijuana legalization. The New Hampshire House of Representatives recently made history by becoming the first legislative body in the country to endorse legalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis. Colorado and Washington did the same thing by voter referendum. But don’t light up that joint quite yet. The bill faces another House vote, a tough fight in the Senate and a veto by Gov. Maggie Hassan.
This leaves New Hampshire in a bit of legal quandary. Is growing popular support running headlong into the region’s toughest marijuana prohibition laws? It begs the basic question: Are widely unpopular laws enforceable?
The question is both theoretical and practical. Will growing grassroots support for changing cannabis laws have more influence over politicians or the judiciary? Will a new state law that permits explicit instruction to juries that they have the right to thumb their noses at the evidence if the law itself is unjust render the state’s marijuana possession laws meaningless? And, are these laws going to be heaped on the dump pile of unenforceable, antiquated laws that ban things like adultery?
But laws themselves may not be that relevant because by and large lawyers and prosecutors admit that the state’s maximum marijuana sentencing laws are routinely ignored. It is in part because New Hampshire has such harsh laws — possession of any amount of pot is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by as much as one year in jail and $2,000 fine, and possession of less than one ounce with the intent to sell is a felony and carries a maximum sentence of three years and $25,000 fine. Neighboring New England states have decriminalized possession of small amounts of cannabis.
I understand that this article refers to POT and I don’t believe mind altering drugs should ever be legal but the concept of Jury nullification is an important one that only a very few people understand.
On the topic of the RIGHT to protect loved ones and those who would seek to deny you that Constitutional right:
Our wonderful Constitutional Republic (purposely designed to be inefficient to protect the people) has checks and balances throughout the entire system. The final and last line of defense is the Jury box. The Jury not only sits in judgement of the accused but they sit in judgement of the law itself. In each case the Judge will instruct the Jury that they MUST come to a decision based on the law… this is a lie and the Judge breaks his oath… if your neighbor or fellow oath keeper is arrested for refusing to register his / her guns then the accused should always call for a Jury trial of his / her peers.. we have that right… BUT WAIT…WHO ARE OUR PEERS? If you and your attorney don’t tell the court / Judge who your peers are (and they won’t ask you), then THEY will pick your peers. In any Jury trial YOU and your attorney need to present to the Judge a list of your peers… BUT again who are your peers?… In the case of illegal unconstitutional registration of guns, or our right to self-defense, your peers have to be sympathetic and understanding of our Country and YOU… YOU should be a LIFE member of the NRA, and the USCCA, and several other gun organizations. Why? THESE are your peers ! Any resistance to these peers can be perceived as a mistrial and the case should be thrown out. And if it goes to trial your PEERS can simply vote to NOT convict thereby denying the government its desire to rob you of your property, liberty or life.
In the case of self-defense NOT involving guns… a martial artist was arrested for crushing the trachea (it only takes 24 pounds of impact force) of a robber demanding money. The robber had a knife and said he was going to kill HER. SHE spun and with a cat’s paw fist and crushed his trachea. The robber died of suffocation. The liberal Communist DA said she committed murder as SHE was a dangerous weapon. HER peers were Grand Masters in martial art, black belts in martial art, Krav Maga experts, etc. The DA knowing he could not get a conviction dropped all charges. Talk about he war on women… the oppressors are the liberals. Anyway, any bad law can and should be nullified at the Jury box… The problem is hardly no one is educated in this. It is up to people like me and you to get this word out as fast as possible.
And please, when you are called to sit on a Jury… GO !… You never know the life you may save could well be an Oath Keeper who committed no Constitutional violation.
On the topic of PEERS…. I forgot to mention that in addition to being a Life member of the NRA and USCCA you should also be a dues paying member of (of course) OATH KEEPERS ! Sorry, brain slow, my bad.