The Juror’s Right

The attorneys making up the prosecutorial and defense teams are enacting what we call an adversarial system; that is, that the best way for the jurors to determine the facts and judge the quality of the evidence, is to have one side whose sole goal is to convict the defendant, while the others sole goal is to show that either the evidence or the law does not apply to the defendant.

The judge, is there to see to it that everything proceeds in an orderly manner, that both teams of attorneys abide by the rules, and that everyone remains safe.

The Juror’s Duty

If you have been selected for jury duty you will go thru a selection process.  You may be asked questions by both sets of attorneys, because they get to vote on whether they want you to be a juror on their case.  They have a limited number of potential jurors they can “disqualify” and then that’s it.

As a juror, it is your duty to know your constitutional rights regarding being a juror.  Our Constitution is what makes us the masters of these public servants.  And this is where we come to the crux of being a juror -

A jurors first duty is to protect his fellow man from the abuse of power by government.

Shocking isn’t it?  The most powerful right a citizen has, is also the least known by the citizen.

A person, acting in capacity as a juror, can fight tyranny by refusing to convict.

The examples are numerous, such as when jurors in the North refused to convict people who were guilty of breaking the runaway slave laws.

Jury Nullification

At it’s most basic level jury nullification means that the power of the juror is the raw power to free someone regardless of the law, regardless of the facts, for any reason whatsoever, or for no reason, related or unrelated to the case.

Neither the judge, nor the prosecutors will tell you that you have this right.  As a matter of fact the judge may “instruct” you to the contrary.  But this in no way means that you do not have the right.  The right to jury nullification is a constitutional right protected by not one, not two, but three constitutional amendments.

It will annoy the attorneys that you understand you have this absolute right.  A judge may tell you to the contrary, and even go so far as holding you in contempt.  But in so doing he will be violating your constitutional rights and will suffer the penalty for it.

What this also means is that if you feel a law is wrong, unjust, unfairly applied, whatever the reason, you can refuse to convict.  This is your constitutional right.

Some might try to argue that nullification violates the juror’s oath.  It does not.  No Constitutional right is capable of violating an oath.  The Constitution trumps any such oath, as such oaths are not dictated by the Constitution.

The prime example of nullification, pre-Constitution, is from 1734 in the trial of John Peter Zenger, who was arrested for seditious libel against His Majesty’s government.  Zenger published papers that were critical of colonial rule.  When brought to trial he admitted to what he published and defended himself by showing how his facts were the truth.  The judge instructed the jurors that the truth of the issues had no bearing on the violation of the law.  The judge even went so far as to tell the jurors to find Zenger guilty.  The jury retired, and it took only ten minutes for them to return and pronounce him not guilty.  This is the power of the juror.

Conclusion

It is every citizens duty to know and to understand their constitutional rights.  Many many people died so that you could have them.  In the scheme of checks and balances that our founding fathers created, the juror, is the last check over the power of a government out of control, if they would only use it. 

The juror is the final arbiter over bad laws.  For example, if the citizenry of America truly wanted to de-criminalize marijuana, the jurors of the land need only refuse to convict each and every person brought to trial on the charge.  And none could gainsay them.

The juror is the last chance, bar force of arms, a citizen has in the normal process of government to prevent tyranny.