MikeK
Gold Member
If you are called for jury duty in a civil or criminal trial, when the trial is over the judge will issue what is called a "charge" to the jury immediately prior to their deliberation. This so-called "charge" is an authoritatively issued instruction to the jury, telling them they are bound by law to follow rules which they must follow in reaching a decision -- regardless of their sense of right and wrong.
Briefly stated, this legalistic admonition is, in the simplest terms, bullshit! The fact is in accordance with the Common Law as set forth in the Magna Carta and having full effect in contemporary Law, the jury is the de facto judge in a criminal or civil trial and the judge is best described as a referee. The fact is the individual juror can vote to acquit a criminal defendant regardless of any evidence against him/her and isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it.
This power of juries to acquit or find in favor of in spite of obvious fault is called Jury Nullification and the existing judicial system is so vehemently opposed to a jury of citizens having the last word in a criminal trial that efforts have been made to declare Jury Nullification illegal. So illegal there are made up laws against even discussing it within a certain proximity of a criminal court.
People have actually been sent to jail for distributing circulars informing jurors of this power. But the trick is these anti-nullification laws depend on a juror being foolish enough to admit he/she understands it and has acted on it. As long as a juror who has voted to nullify refuses to even discuss the matter with a judge or anyone else there is nothing the judge can do but sit on his throne and impotently simmer under his robe.
Anyone who is interested in further details should go here: Jury Nullification: History, questions and answers about nullification, links
Briefly stated, this legalistic admonition is, in the simplest terms, bullshit! The fact is in accordance with the Common Law as set forth in the Magna Carta and having full effect in contemporary Law, the jury is the de facto judge in a criminal or civil trial and the judge is best described as a referee. The fact is the individual juror can vote to acquit a criminal defendant regardless of any evidence against him/her and isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it.
This power of juries to acquit or find in favor of in spite of obvious fault is called Jury Nullification and the existing judicial system is so vehemently opposed to a jury of citizens having the last word in a criminal trial that efforts have been made to declare Jury Nullification illegal. So illegal there are made up laws against even discussing it within a certain proximity of a criminal court.
People have actually been sent to jail for distributing circulars informing jurors of this power. But the trick is these anti-nullification laws depend on a juror being foolish enough to admit he/she understands it and has acted on it. As long as a juror who has voted to nullify refuses to even discuss the matter with a judge or anyone else there is nothing the judge can do but sit on his throne and impotently simmer under his robe.
Anyone who is interested in further details should go here: Jury Nullification: History, questions and answers about nullification, links
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