“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” Thomas Jefferson
As a juror, you are not there to decide the guilt or innocence of the defendant so much as whether the very law they are accused of violating is a fair law, a just law, a moral law. As a juror deciding someone’s fate, you must also decide whether the law itself, is guilty or innocent.
As you know, Congress represents the will of The People. Laws are passed by Congress, and money is allocated by Congress, because Congress represents The People. Our Constitution provides the power to create laws to Congress for the obvious, and common sense reason, that The People should be the only people creating laws that they themselves are bound to. However, The Founders, as genius as they are, knew that one day the inevitable corruption of the Federal Government would allow laws to be passed by a body other than Congress, binding The People to laws they did not create, or approve, and worst of all…did not want.
In the past this simple form of Government went by many names; monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy. In America, we do not allow such abuses of power. At least not until January 9, 2014. America now has, and has had for many years now, a President that believes so strongly in the power of The One, Himself, that he said on that fateful day, “We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we are providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone.” And with that simple decree from our King, that he is going to simply pass laws with or without Congress, we can now expect for the remainder of his term, that with a whisk of his pen, or a quick phone call, you will be held to laws Obama decides he will hold you to, or face the consequences, and you will not have a choice in the matter. In common parlance, in layman’s terms, we call this a tyranny.
Let’s face it America, the President you voted for, twice, is rogue. He has been a liability since his first day in the White House, but your apathy, your ignorance, your sentimentalism, your suspension of common sense for the warm fuzzies of altruism has brought us here. Obama believes he is omnipotent, and he has torn the reigns of power away from you as our new King. He is a God, in his own mind.
Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself. Google the term, “Obama+bypass Congress” and in the first page of results alone you will see how Obama, as our King, has bypassed Congress on laws including; gay rights, the economy, climate change and illegal immigration. That’s just page one. It sounds like we don’t need Congress at all. In fact, I recommend we dissolve Congress immediately as a debt reduction measure. Think of the millions saved in payroll and medical benefits alone!
So why did I start a post on jury nullification with our Emperor Obama’s latest declarations of his almighty power? Because I am about to share an anecdote, and the stage was needing set.
So I was on vacation this week up in the Sierras, and a member of my extended family happened to be vacationing in the same spot which we didn’t realize until we had arrived. She is a newly minted lawyer. We invited her to where we were staying for a “catch up.” At the tail end of some shop talk, I asked her what she thought of the Jury Nullification movement. She stared at me blankly. She was unfamiliar with the term. It is unfortunate for America that she is unfamiliar with the term because she is a lawyer in America, that went to law school in America, and recently passed the Bar Exam in America, and yet I know more about a basic American right than she does. I am not saying she is not a good lawyer, I have no idea. My point is that she spent much time, and much study, and much money, to become certified it what is arguably a difficult field for certification, and she knew not the words coming out of my mouth.
Jury nullification is the last defense Americans have when their leadership, such as their President, goes rogue…just like ours has. All that Jury Nullification means is that as a juror, which we have all been, or have been asked to be, you have the right, in fact, it is your duty, to release someone of the charges against them and find them innocent, even if they are guilty and in fact have committed what they are charged with, if you disagree with the charges themselves.
Do you understand, as a juror, how much power you wield? As a juror, you are more powerful than our entire Government. More powerful than the President. The Founders, in their genius, set you up as the most powerful entity in America. If someone did not pay their taxes, you can free them. If they smoked pot and you don’t care, you can free them. If they pushed back against the TSA, you can free them. If they stood up for something you believe in, and they were arrested for it, you can free them. You, all by yourself, can set people free when they are in violation of laws you don’t agree with. So when you have a Congress like ours, that ignores The People and when you have a President like ours, that passes laws without The People’s consent, Jury Nullification is the last defense Americans can use to protect themselves from tyrannical laws thrust down upon them by a tyrannical Government and a tyrannical President.
Now, being a juror a couple of times, I can tell you what you will be told in that courtroom. You will be told that what you believe about the law does not matter, you must simply decide guilt or innocence based on what the law says and if the defendant violated that law or not, period. The term “jury nullification” will be uttered by no one. In fact, if you do not come to court understanding you have this power, you will never hear about it and you may be forced to find someone guilty, even if the law itself was repugnant to your morals and foul to your common sense. Some states are changing this by passing laws that require that jurors are instructed on jury nullification, like in New Hampshire.
I can tell you also, that many jurors after having found someone guilty, and having sent them to prison for years away from their wife and children, once learning they could in fact have nullified the law, are; angry, bitter, feel lied to, and have trouble emotionally dealing with the sentence they contributed to giving on someone they would have found “innocent” had they known they had the right to nullify a law they found grotesque to begin with.
To read stories of some pissed off jurors who regret not knowing about Jury Nullification after sending someone to jail, read their stories here.
As a culture, we scorn anyone who could not get away from jury duty as someone too stupid to get out of it. I cannot even begin to share with you how sad, depressing and a sign of our collapsed pride and honor that is. If you receive a jury summons, it is your duty to appear for selection and if possible, be a part of a jury trial. Odds are, the trial will be straight forward and you will simply perform your duty. However, if the trial is for someone being accused of a tyrannical law, an unjust law, an immoral law, an unfair law, it is your duty to set them free. If this is unclear to you, please re-read the image for this blog. We need to make jury duty service a badge of honor, not a joke.
It is time for every American to understand they have this right. That it is a right The Founders wanted us to know we had. Where State Nullification allows an entire State to say, “Yeah…we don’t agree with your laws Mr. Federal Government, so we are simply not going to enforce them,” a juror can do exactly the same thing. As a juror, simply say nothing. The Government does not have mind reading devices…yet. Once on the jury, be a juror. Do a good job. If, however, you find that the law the defendant is charged with breaking is vile to your common sense, and you do not agree with it, simply refuse to agree to a guilty verdict. You do not have to say why. You do not have to explain yourself. You do not have to say anything. And if you do say why you will not find him guilty, there is nothing anyone can do about it. Once you are on a jury, that jury is the last word, regardless of how that word was reached.
And in that brilliant silence or that long winded speech about jury nullification to your fellow jurors, you can set someone free. And if a couple of people are set free by like-minded jurors in other trials, that becomes the new law. In other words, those trials become the case law that is used to free people in future trials, which in effect, nullifies the law, making it unenforceable. With the tyrannical Government currently in power, we need to educate all Americans on their right to free each other from this tyranny.
For more, please visit: http://fija.org/
Categories: Government Failures
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