Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
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If nullification isn't a juror's right, then why isn't Laura Kriho in prison?A jury does not have the right to to nullify the law. It has the power to do so, but it does not have the right. In fact, if a jury felt that someone was guilty on the facts, but voted not guilty just because they disagreed with the law. they (the jury) would be breaking the law.
You have to understand the difference between having a right to do something and having the power to do something. I have the power to hit my neighbor in the nose for no reason at all. However, I do not have the right to do so.
I am not saying that jury nullification never happens. It does - considerably less than its proponents would like to think, but it does happen. But when it does, the jury that does it is breaking the law. Simple as that.
The trick to making jury nullification work is for the jurors to render thier verdict and then keep their mouths shut about what they did. THAT's how it works, when it does.
If there was a law against jury nullification juries would be prosecuted whenever they did it. No jury has ever been prosecuted for his vote on a case, even when they flat out said they did it because they thought the law was always wrong.