Free Republic

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A measure on the South Dakota ballot this November would allow defendants to tell juries they can disregard a law if they don't like it — a prospect that has the legal profession aghast. Amendment A would let people accused of crimes argue that a law should not apply to their circumstances or that is has no merit. The practice is known as jury nullification. The proposed amendment to the South Dakota Constitution was put on the ballot after more than 34,000 signatures were gathered by a group that includes at least one advocate of legalizing...

Our old friend jury nulification is back. For those people who have not heard of jury nulification it is the doctrine that a jury has the right to judge, not just the “facts of the case”, but THE LAW as well. All the Founding Fathers of the United States believed in this doctrine, but it tends to make modern legal folk froth with rage - things like the “war on drugs” might get into some difficulty if jury nulification makes a come back. This November in South Dakota an amendment to the Constitution of the State will be on the...

Amid concerns that protesters outside Sacramento's federal courthouse could compromise the prosecution's case against the operator of a Chico medical marijuana dispensary, a federal judge has ordered that jurors be transported to his courtroom from an undisclosed, remote location before each session. This week's two days of peaceful protests were spurred by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr.'s decision denying defendant Bryan James Epis the use of a medical marijuana defense, in which Epis alleged federal offenses could be lessened by the circumstances in which they were committed. In this case: compassion, supporters say. "Us patients are out here...

<p>Jurors delivered a stunning compromise verdict yesterday in the execution-like slaying of Aliquippa police officer James Naim, convicting one suspect of third-degree murder and acquitting the other of all charges.</p> <p>They found Jamie M. Brown, 24, guilty of a reduced murder charge, even though Naim was shot twice in the head at close range as he walked his beat.</p>