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Posted: 6/26/2001 6:18:22 AM EDT
[#1]
Thank you for your service!!
And remember next time you go to consult [url]www.FIJA.org[/url]if you have any questions about jury nullification! |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 6:51:21 AM EDT
[#2]
I hope you were paid during those two months, thats a long trial for drug possession.
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Posted: 6/26/2001 9:32:42 AM EDT
[#3]
This trial only lasted 1 day. You can get called in at any time during the two month period. I got called in 3 times. The rest of the time you work at your regular job.
This was Federal District Court, Eastern Division of Virgina. I must say the people there are running things very efficiently. I was impressed with the overall operation. Also, at least here, if a Juror doesn't show up, they send U.S. Marshalls out to pick you up. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 9:50:54 AM EDT
[#4]
Were you fully informed of your jury rights to not only be able to judge the facts but the law also?
Sorry, but me personally, I would have voted not guilty. If they can't keep drugs out of prisons why the hell should I support the War on Drugs for the general public? I say let him smoke all the crack (or whatever drug it was) he wants in prison, maybe it'll free up some taxpayers dollars when he gets some bad stuff. [b]"There's this war on drugs, which many of our own families are the enemy. I don't know how you wage war on your own family."[/b] -From the movie "Traffic" |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 10:16:57 AM EDT
[#5]
I served on a jury many times in the past few years, and I always come away in a sense of awe. On one trial that I served on we(the jury) sent a young black man in his 30s to life in prison without parole because he was defined as a drug dealer. Big decision and it was decision was not easily arrived at. LIFE IN PRISON is a long time. At the end I felt that I did my duty as a juror.
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Posted: 6/26/2001 10:52:53 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted: Thank you for your service!! And remember next time you go to consult [url]www.FIJA.org[/url]if you have any questions about jury nullification! Interesting link, seems more slated to State and Local Trials though. Try not showing up for a Federal Trial though and see what happens. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 11:58:31 AM EDT
[#7]
I don't understand why most folks view jury duty as so onerous. I would welcome the opportunity to sit on a jury.
I had a coworker who sat on the jury for a high profile case in DC and was gone from work for a few months. During that time, he received his full salary and got to participate in a trial. Did he appreciate the situation? Not at all, when he came back to work, all he did was complain. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 12:02:52 PM EDT
[#8]
I always get a blast from hearing someone blowing about THEY would do as a juror in a trial.
Let me tell you, sitting in a courtroom and getting picked for a murder trial, (or any other for that matter) will get you a real quick wakeup. You suddenly realise that this is SERIOUS business, and that something more is required of you than your mouth. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 12:12:08 PM EDT
[#9]
I served on a jury once. It was a domestic violence charge (what we used to call wife beating before we got so damn PC).Anyway, to make a long story short we let the dirtbag off the hook even though in my heart I knew he was guilty. His wife refused to identify him as the "gentleman" who put her in the hospital. After the trial I saw them "celebrating" in the elevator! I hope my little girl grows up with more intelligence, self-respect and common-sense than that pathetic victim.
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Posted: 6/26/2001 12:18:04 PM EDT
[#10]
Come on, Sweep, are you trying to be funny? Show me the court that informs juries of a right to judge the law. In courts in AZ, the judge is quite up front during jury instructions to say, "I will now tell you the law. It is your job to apply the facts as you find them to the law and render your decision."
Not much nullification going on here . . . |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 12:44:09 PM EDT
[#11]
Quoted: Also, at least here, if a Juror doesn't show up, they send U.S. Marshalls out to pick you up. Considering the parking situation around courthouses, that may not be a bad thing (unless they give you a pair of shiney bracelets to wear on the way). |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 1:42:48 PM EDT
[#12]
Quoted: [url]www.FIJA.org[/url] Interesting link, seems more slated to State and Local Trials though. Try not showing up for a Federal Trial though and see what happens. Hey ECS! Don't get the wrong idea here! FIJA isn't about shirking your duty! FIJA is about your rights AS a Juror! It applies to Federal as well as State and Local law. As a Juror, you are judging the law just as much as you are judging the defendant! |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 1:51:52 PM EDT
[#13]
Quoted: I always get a blast from hearing someone blowing about THEY would do as a juror in a trial. Let me tell you, sitting in a courtroom and getting picked for a murder trial, (or any other for that matter) will get you a real quick wakeup. You suddenly realise that this is SERIOUS business, and that something more is required of you than your mouth. I've served on two juries in the past 6 years. So back off. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 2:03:34 PM EDT
[#14]
Originally Posted By Chairborne Ranger: Come on, Sweep, are you trying to be funny? Show me the court that informs juries of a right to judge the law. In courts in AZ, the judge is quite up front during jury instructions to say, "I will now tell you the law. It is your job to apply the facts as you find them to the law and render your decision." Not much nullification going on here . . . If you want more information about what's going on in your state go here: [url]www.fija.org/stcoord1.htm#Arizona[/url] [url]www.fija.org[/url] From the [url]www.fija.org/juror-handbook.htm[/url] website: [b]As recently as 1972, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said that the jury has an [red]" unreviewable and irreversible power... to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge....[/red] (US vs Dougherty, 473 F 2d 1113, 1139 (1972)) Or as this same truth was stated in a earlier decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Maryland: "We recognize, as appellants urge, the [red]undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by the judge,[/red] and contrary to the evidence. This is a power that must exist as long as we adhere to the general verdict in criminal cases, for the courts cannot search the minds of the jurors to find the basis upon which they judge. If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused, is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic of passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision." (US vs Moylan, 417 F 2d 1002, 1006 (1969)).[/b] |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 4:47:17 PM EDT
[#15]
Sweep, your link goes to the FIJA person for Arizona. It doesn't tell me what's going on in my state (although maybe she would if I called her).
I see your D.C. and Maryland cites. Please show me a statute or cite that says in Arizona, jurors have the right to nullify the law and decide the case themselves without the judge's so-called "guidance." I agree with you, BTW, in theory, I just think judges have jealously guarded their "right" to tell jurors what the law is and that it is the juror's "duty" to apply the law as given to the facts as found. If you have such a cite, I would dearly love to personally throw it in a judge's face. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 5:01:23 PM EDT
[#16]
Originally Posted By Chairborne Ranger: Sweep, your link goes to the FIJA person for Arizona. It doesn't tell me what's going on in my state (although maybe she would if I called her). I see your D.C. and Maryland cites. Please show me a statute or cite that says in Arizona, jurors have the right to nullify the law and decide the case themselves without the judge's so-called "guidance." I agree with you, BTW, in theory, I just think judges have jealously guarded their "right" to tell jurors what the law is and that it is the juror's "duty" to apply the law as given to the facts as found. If you have such a cite, I would dearly love to personally throw it in a judge's face. Sorry about that. I meant that you should contact that person. I'm not certian, but I believe that federal law supercedes state laws even in this case. Best bet is to contact that person at the site I gave you. She could answer the question better than I could. [url]www.fija.org[/url] |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 5:17:56 PM EDT
[#17]
Originally Posted By Chairborne Ranger: If you have such a cite, I would dearly love to personally throw it in a judge's face. And to do so would probably earn you or anybody else a citation for contempt of court, if not imprisonment until you said uncle, legally. Judges hate juries who do not do what they are told, even when the jury or juror(s) are following their consciences. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 5:33:44 PM EDT
[#18]
Sounds like the jurors need lawyers worse than the plaintiff or defendant!
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Posted: 6/26/2001 5:52:57 PM EDT
[#19]
QUOTES
"It is not only his [the juror's] right, but his duty . . . to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court." John Adams Second U.S. President "The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy." John Jay Joint-author of the Federalist Papers and first U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 6:18:23 PM EDT
[#20]
So how much did you get paid for 2 months worth of hassles?
Our court system is so screwed up, I don't think I could participate in good faith. Jury nullification is the way to go, but I'm not sure I even want to be near so many corrupted people. Judges especially. Egad! There's little hope of ever getting it turned around at this point. Anyone on ar15.com who convicsts someone of drug dealing or drug posession is a hypocrite! Don't worry warlord, I'm sure that guy is back on the streets by now. Life without parole my ass. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 7:44:41 PM EDT
[#21]
Then you'll like this. Back in Feb of 97 I got a notice for jury duty for the court of common pleas(state court in Ohio). During jury selection I was seated in the box with 11 other people. If your seated in the box you are on the jury unless you are disqualified by the defense or prosecution. No one including the def. recognized me as a cop except the judge and prosecutor. The def was charged with trafficking in heroin(sales to an undercover cop). He was acting as his own defense, truly a fool for a client. I knew there was something familiar about the def. When we were told his name and the charges I almost laughed out loud. You see, I had recently left the vice squad and was back on patrol. I ran the wire on the U.C. while the deal was going down that he was being charged for. The judge asked if any of the jurors knew the def. I raised my hand. Everyone in the courtroom(all prospective jurors) looked at me as the judge asked how I knew the def. I knew better than to say this out loud, it would have queered the whole jury pool. I asked to come to the bench. I explained the situation to the judge, prosecutor and def. The judge asked the def if he wanted to dismiss me from the jury. All he could say was, "I guess so". I went home and he got 5 years.
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Posted: 6/26/2001 8:24:20 PM EDT
[#22]
Quoted: Don't worry warlord, I'm sure that guy is back on the streets by now. Life without parole my ass. During he trial it was introduced as evidence that this conviction would be his 3rd felony conviction. Calif has a 3 strikes you are out. I am reasonably sure that this felon is still in prison. |
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Posted: 6/26/2001 11:11:13 PM EDT
[#23]
I was on a jury one time - felony battery against a police officer. It was a very interesting experience and I would definitely do it again.
Up until a couple years ago, I had been called every year since 1992. Only had to serve that one time though. |
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