Hi Derek,
Before you read the rest of this rather discouraging email, let me state for the record that I believe strongly in the principle of jury nullification. I provide the information below so you can make better informed decisions how to proceed.
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I have personally served on a jury where we nullified a stupid
implementation of a law.
The case was a domestic violence trial. The DA was prosecuting a male
they said battered a women in a domestic disputed which turned violent.
The prosecution produced multiple photos as evidence taken by a
veteran police detective schooled in photography.
The photos supposedly showed the injuries of the female. None of us
could see any cuts, abrasions, bruises or any other kind of injuries
described by the prosecution.
As hard as we tried to find injury in the photos, we could not see any.
The defendant on the other hand had two teeth missing caused by the
female when she struck him with a telephone receiver.
The prosecution said, and the judge confirmed, that all that is
required for a battery to occur is for one party to simply "touch" the
other party.
We were quickly able to decide who got the worse end of this fight.
The male did not deserve even be in the court room as a defendant. We
were able to reason that there is the letter of the law and the spirit
of the law. We also determined that even though the judge said that
the law clearly said that a battery occurs when someone mealy touches
another person, the law was flawed. We made our decision based on the
spirit of the law.
We acquitted.
I personally spoke to the defendant after the trial and told him how
lucky he was that day. I advised him to never make the mistake of
engaging in physical violence with a female for any reason. I told
him if it does occur again, his verdict would likely not be so
favorable next time. I also told him today was a good day to by a
lottery ticket.
Advise: Keep your mouth shut and serve your fellow citizens when
called on to do so.
There is a price for being free. You make your payment in a jury box.