Saturday, August 16, 2008

Jury Nullification

  The judges keep telling you you can't do it, they vet jurors to get the dumbest most compliant folks they can, yet it still rises it's ugly head.  Jury Nullification.  It's not just for sissies.
  The couple of times I've mentioned it in a jury room you could HEAR the marbles start rolling around in folks heads.  They can't BELIEVE the jury CAN do anything except what they think the judge wants.  They assume that Jurors can be punished!
  So I end up hanging juries.  450.00 for an improper turn is TOO MUCH.  Period.
  And I look like the perfect juror, every time.  Coat.  Tie.  Haircut.  A little chit-chat because I know a lot of folks but not too much.  If they ask me about following instructions I'm all for it.  And I am.
  But Drug laws?  Pffft.  Gun Laws?  Even Bigfoot is covered by the 2nd Amendment...before it was written -if you ask me.  Traffic laws?  Get lost.  They are only after the money.   If someone confesses to shooting the pope and still has the smoking gun in his hand in court....maybe.
  I'm just one of those heretics who actually READ the Founding Fathers and thinks that Human Beings actually DO have Rights.  Just being a responsible citizen of the Republic here, folks.  I love a good bureacracy as much as anyone....but let's have a little justice now and then.
  Right now we have a sensational trial of some folks who taught children to have sex on stage.  Day after day of lurid testimony by a cavalcade of state experts and witnesses.  But I just noticed a little something......it's from the next county over and the DA up there wouldn't bring charges.  And they didn't ask us to, nor was this a change of venue.
  I'm sceptical, partly because the Smith County Courts have lost credence for justice and rule of law.
  So, Jury Nullification.  The revolution has to start somewhere and that somewhere needs to have suits, ties and central air conditioning.
  

4 comments:

Brad said...

Wow, just wow.

I have read the article you mentioned three different times, just to see if I missed anything.

I am a cop myself, and although I disagree with your stances on drug use and traffic laws, but I can see the other side of the argument.

I couldn't care less when an idiot on a motorcycle goes 120mph, crashes and kills himself. I also couldn't care less when some idiot crams dope into his arm and kills himself.

The reason we need laws like that is for the harm these actions cause other people. The doper's families and other innocent motorists deserve to be protected from that destructive behavior.

But if you want to throw out a ticket I wrote someone for a traffic infraction or for holding a bag of weed, go right ahead. I agree that it won't be the end of the world. You would still be wrong in my opinion, but your error wouldn't carry that much weight to society as a whole.

Having said that, for you to say that a case like this should receive the "jury nullification" treatment due to what you see as some kind of procedural over-stepping is beyond ridiculous.

These people drugged and raped children. Defenseless children. They videotaped these sex acts. I can't think of a more heinous crime myself. I have more respect for an armed robber.

You opinion on this makes you sound like a teenager, a rebel without a clue.

"I'm just one of those heretics who actually READ the Founding Fathers and thinks that Human Beings actually DO have Rights. Just being a responsible citizen of the Republic here, folks. I love a good bureacracy as much as anyone....but let's have a little justice now and then."

Where is the justice in letting "Booger Red" walk free after what he has done? Exactly how have his rights been violated? Booger is getting a public, fair trial.

And I have another question for you, based on you apparently bragging about how you have caused hung juries in the past. How honorable is it to tell the judge that you can be fair and impartial when you have no intention of bringing back any kind of guilty verdict? In my opinion, that makes you a liar and a coward.

If you are so sure of your convictions, then be a man. Stand up and start your "revolution". The founding fathers actively and openly fought against oppression, they weren't deceitful.

Oh, and I guess never mind the victims (or future victims) in this case. Apparently your "justice" in disrupting our system is more important than preventing Booger from continuing to ruin children's lives in the worst way imaginable.

Robert Langham said...

If the drug war was going to be won, it would have been won by now. All it has done in my long lifetime is make Mexican Criminals rich enough to dissolve government below the border and fill up the prison system without having any effect on the price or availability of drugs. Let's try another approach.
If judges were going to respect the Constitution, the jury process and jury nullification, we wouldn't be in this hideous, complex bureaucratic mess that the courts have become.
And if Booger Red was or is guilty, why didn't Wood County, whose DA is right down the street, take this to court? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I'm not sure Smith County will be able to tell one way or the other.
Traffic tickets? Come now. The muni court is an ATM for the city. Period. Has little or nothing to do with public safety.

d smith kaich jones said...

Just chiming in here about the "sex ring" case because I'm a woman & can't keep my mouth shut. And because the love of my life lives in the very town where all this supposedly occurred. He, and LOTS of others from that area, aren't buying it. It smells to them. Everyone in the town knew about the "sex club", but it had nothing to do with kids, just consenting adults. It was a local joke.

Like you, Robert, I don't know - these people may or may not be guilty. But, like you, I also remember the Gilmer "sex ring" case involving children (and supposed Satanism), all of which turned out to be false & prodded by procedural over-stepping. The Upshur County DA wouldn't go forward with THAT case, which angered CPS, so they hired an attorney from Galveston. THAT act angered a certain Sgt. Brown, a police officer who was still investigating the case. Because he didn't want to cooperate with the Galveston atty, that atty. went after HIM. With lies. Sgt. Brown spent time in prison, if I recall correctly, before the truth finally came out. It had all been lies.

I hope that's not the case here. I hope these people really did it(as horrible as that sounds), since we're putting them away. But the truth is, the legal community in this area of the state has a history of flat-out lying about this kind of stuff, and there's a reason we get a bit suspicious when we start hearing this kind of stuff.

Fletch said...

Good work Robert.

Good work examining things more deeply than what elected officials proclaim to be facts.

Good work ignoring the bullying, and representing your personal beliefs while on a jury.

Good work fighting your fight within the system, where you can be most effective.