Jury Nullification


The law is not absolute

I was going to write a bit about jury nullification, but Radley Balko beat me to it with this excellent column.

Yes, I know it is on Fox News, but since The Nation and National Review won't print articles by libertarians, you take your exposure where you can.

There is not a lot I can add to Mr. Balko's excellent column. As I first learned about jury nullification, a jury is obliged to judge not only the accused but the law under which the charge was made. The jury box can be more powerful than the ballot box. It is an incredible power, which some lawyers and judges try to subvert every chance they get by stacking the jury.

There is no stronger tool to defend individual liberty from the tyranny of the powerful and the tyranny of the majority. Once a United States citizen enters the jury room as a member of the jury, there is no government official, judge, or any legal power that can tell him how to vote or why he must vote a certain way.

For further information, check out the Fully Informed Jury Association.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - July 29, 2005 at 06:23 AM  Tag


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