| FEDERAL PERJURY STATUTES |
| JURY POWER |
| COMPLAINT |
| ARREST |
| GRAND JURY |
| FALSE CONFESSIONS |
| MISCONDUCT |
| EYEWITNESSES |
| WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS |
| WHY NOT TESTIFY? |
| MARTHA STEWART |
| PETER BACANOVIC |
| REVERSIBLE ERRORS |
THE AWESOME POWER OF THE JURY
"It is common today for judges to tell prospective jurors that they must apply the law as given to them and that their business is simply to determine whether the defendant has broken the law or not. But that is not what was intended by the right to trial by jury in the Bill or Rights".
Even though it was once the written law, would you vote to convict an escaped slave from the south, return him to his "Master" and to then be punished, maybe by inflecting torture and disfigurement to that escaped slave? Your answer is hopefully "NO!" But, at one time that was the law.
How about burning a witch? Once that was the law too.
If these laws were again passed today, how should you vote if on that trial's jury?
"If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states then that juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and right that once was the citizen's safeguard of liberty." (1788) (2 Elliots Debates, 94, Bancroft, History of the Constitution, 267)
In 1895, in United States v Sparf, the Supreme Court ruled that although juries have the right to ignore a judge's instructions on the law, they don't have to be made aware of the right to do so. In other words:
IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR RIGHTS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS!
Read the Jurors' Handbook
Questions and Answers about jury nullification
A HISTORY OF JURY NULLIFICATION
send emails to:
friday@optonline.net