Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
- 58,308
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I always rejoice when common sense triumphs over legal stupidity.
Jury Nullification | Dissident Voice
Why bring charges against a man who barely touched his girlfriend in the first place?
The first thing I did was ask for a show of hands from everyone who believed the man had kicked her. All twelve of us raised our hands. Okay, it was unanimous. Then, following standard procedure, I passed around sheets of paper and asked everyone to write down Guilty or Not Guilty, and pass the sheets back to me. The count was 11 to 1. Not Guilty. It was a glorious moment. I couldnt have been prouder of my fellow jurors. Despite what the prosecutor told us about doing our duty, and despite the law being crystal clear in this matter, we had decided to do the right thing, the fair thing. We had decided that this guy shouldnt be convicted.
Well, at least eleven of us had decided that. The lone holdout was a man in his forties, a mechanical engineer. Didnt you hear what the D.A. told us? he said plaintively. Even if we wanted to, we dont have the right to ignore the law. When one of the jurors asked if he agreed with the way the law was written, he was stunned. It doesnt matter if I agree or not, he said. The law is the law.
Wrong. We told him it wasnt our job to enforce the law. That was their job. Our job was to do the right thing. And if the County of Los Angeles didnt trust a jury to reach the right and proper decision, then they shouldnt have given us that authority.
Jury Nullification | Dissident Voice
Why bring charges against a man who barely touched his girlfriend in the first place?
If he thought it was a fair decision, then why did his office prosecute this guy in the first place? The answer is that the American legal system has become an industry unto itself, one that supplies lucrative jobs to judges and private attorneys, and decent jobs to public defenders, bailiffs, prison guards, probation officers, expert witnesses, et al. While the System clearly benefits those with the jobs, it clearly hurts people who get stuck with convictions that are meted out not from of a sense of justice, but for administrative reasons. These convictions follow them the rest of their lives, and prevent them from even getting jobs because they now have criminal records. We did our small part to fix that.