Article 1. Bill of Rights
Section I. Rights of Persons
Paragraph XI. Right to trial by jury; number of jurors; selection and compensation of jurors.
(a) The right to trial by jury shall remain inviolate, except that the court shall render judgment without the verdict of a jury in all civil cases where no issuable defense is filed and where a jury is not demanded in writing by either party. In criminal cases, the defendant shall have a public and speedy trial by an impartial jury; and the jury shall be the judges of the LAW and the facts.
Even if you DO NOT live in Georgia, as a juror, you also have the implied right actually codified in the above section of the Georgia Constitution. It is embodied in the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Georgia simply happens to be one of the few states which still incorporates the specific language enumerating this right of jurors in it’s organic document.
But YOU, the citizen/juror, had better know about this BEFORE you enter that jury box:
MOST JUDGES AND LAWYERS DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR RIGHT to what is called “JURY NULLIFICATION." It was left to us by the Founding Fathers as the next to last check on some possible future tyrannical, runaway government. The next – and final – check beyond the jury box is the cartridge box.
A short story to illustrate my point.
A number of years ago, I took a grandchild at a local park during the fall pre-election period. I was approached by a man who smiled and thrust a campaign brochure into my left hand while thrusting his into my right. “I’m (name withheld to protect the terminally stupid) and I’m running for Superior Court judge.” I smiled, scanned his brochure, then asked him my 64 dollar question. “How do you feel about jury nullification?” He paused, looked at his shoes for 20 seconds or so then replied in a shaky voice “ I don’t think we should nullify juries.” I then explained to this experienced lawyer and would-be jurist what this clearly unfamiliar term meant and that this fundamental right was, in fact, specifically enumerated in the Georgia Constitution which he’d sworn an oath to uphold.
This fellow WON his election (without MY vote) and now sits on the bench here, probably STILL doesn’t think much of the concept of jury nullification and – like most judges --CERTAINLY doesn’t tell his juries about it.
Now here’s the OTHER thing you need to know about jury nullification: If you open your mouth about any of this during jury selection or any subsequent deliberation, you will be on your way home – or even to JAIL – faster than you can say “But it’s in the Constitution.”
Here’s why jury nullification is vital to our system: Each year, at the end of the session, the Georgia Legislature publishes a Legislative Summary. This statement appears on one of the first pages: “No attempt has been made to determine the constitutionality of the legislation summarized herein.”
Translation: We pass some really crappy and stupid laws and it’s up to someone else – the courts or JURIES or whoever – to sort out the good from the bad.
Think about that.
"...the idea of liberty must grow weak in the hearts of men before it can be killed at the hands of tyrants." T.Jefferson
Dick, it all doesn't sound very encouraging.