A former federal prosecutor talks about jury nullification

[Quantum Windbag]

This one is for you George.

IF you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who helped make our laws fairer.
The information I have just provided — about a constitutional doctrine called “jury nullification” — is absolutely true. But if federal prosecutors in New York get their way, telling the truth to potential jurors could result in a six-month prison sentence.
Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to passers-by. Given that I have been recommending nullification for nonviolent drug cases since 1995 — in such forums as The Yale Law Journal, “60 Minutes” and YouTube — I guess I, too, have committed a crime.
The prosecutors who charged Mr. Heicklen said that “advocacy of jury nullification, directed as it is to jurors, would be both criminal and without constitutional protections no matter where it occurred.” The prosecutors in this case are wrong. The First Amendment exists to protect speech like this — honest information that the government prefers citizens not know.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/opinion/jurors-can-say-no.html?_r=2

 

[MikeK]

I believe the prosecutors who charged this man are emboldened by the proscription against one juror informing another juror about Nullification. But for them to project this already repressive ruling onto communication between ordinary citizens amounts to the kind of tyranny that helped to provoke the American Revolution.

Jury Nullification is the ultimate judicial power. It exists as the facility by which the jury becomes the judge and the judge is reduced to referee status. It is a critical component of the criminal law dating back to the Magna Carta and it protects the common citizen from oppression by government and/or aristocracy.