Its time to take a stand for liberty

Fully Informed Jury Association ^ | 04/28/07 | Mike Renzulli

[MARenzulli]

Its time for Americans to take a stand against the attacks on our individual, natural rights. Jury nullification is the way to do it.

[MARenzulli]

With our individual freedoms under attack from the Congress as well as the courts and Executive Branch, now is a good time for people to educate themselves on not only how to restore their individual rights but also what can be done to secure them.

Since the U.S. government is inclined to conduct wars not only internationally, but also domestically, its time for individual citizens to take a stand and stop the erosion of our freedoms being done in the name of our security.

How it can be done is simple and legal. The answer is: jury nullification. Since the 13th century when juries were first utilized in England as a result of the Magna Carta, jurors have had the right to nullify (i.e. strike down) laws that they deemed oppressive by acquiting a defendant arraigned for violating oppressive laws enacted by government officials.

In other words, a jury has the power to judge not only the facts of the case but the law itself. Juries have the power and the duty to judge the law, and as a juror you are under no obligation to uphold a law that violates a person's rights and freedoms.

With the wars on drugs and terrorism looming to be even bigger problems than they are now, I urge each of you to get the facts about this right jurors have had for hundreds of years yet the legal establishment has made it a point to prevent people from knowing about it.

The only way to adequately restore our natual, individual rights is to educate people so that those who are accused of non-violent, consentual, adult-oriented activities (like drug, gun posession and prostitution) will be acquitted so the laws that oppress them will be struck down.

While you can pursue getting people elected to office to undo much of the damage done to our rights, legislative bodies will almost always confirm the constitutionality of their own acts and the oaths sworn by judges and legislators are only as good as the power to enforce them.

Nor are elections adequate to prevent tyranny since elections come only periodically and are no guarantee of repealing the laws that violate people's rights. The best way to secure our liberties is for juries to veto unjust laws passed by politicians and upheld by courts which would result in bad laws being repealed.

If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area and would like to help inform people of their rights when serving as jurors, please send me an e-mail from my blog as I would like to do more activism on this issue.

Jury nullification is the last, best hope to restore liberty.