Thanks! I had no idea that the jury wielded more power than the judge. If the judge disagrees can he override the jury, or is it a done deal.
Generally the rules favor the defendant. IOW, I believe the judge can set aside a guilty verdict and acquit but if the jury finds for acquittal, I don't believe the judge can set that aside and convict the guy anyway. Similarly, in the penalty phase of a capital case, the jury doesn't actually condemn the convict, they simply "recommend" the death penalty. If they do so, the judge can still apply a life sentence, but if they don't recommend capital punishment, he can't "upgrade" to death.
Courts, of course, don't like nullification because it diminishes their appearance of great importance as well as taking the process more out of their control, and they will actually instruct jurors something which SCOTUS has found to be false, that they may judge only the facts of the particular case, and are required to assume that the law is valid, and valid as applied to this defendant. SCOTUS' position basically boiled down to the idea that it is a citizen's job to be informed of his rights and obligations, and that the court, which is inferior to him, is not responsible to inform him of his right, which actually makes sense in a way. However, I don't believe it's proper to go so far as to tell jurors the opposite of the truth.
Now in practice nullification is a problematic matter these days. Large proportions of the public are in unnatural awe of the government and anything they're told by the government, at least on certain matters. Plus the court will exclude you from selection if you admit you know your rights wrt nullification. So if you are a juror in a case where you believe nullification is appropriate, you may have to do so undercover. If you admit during deliberations that you are aware of this option, after the jury has just been admonished the opposite, there are enough obedient drones among the public that someone will no doubt rat you out to the judge, and you'll at a minimum be removed from the jury, leaving the defendant with no one on the jury who is aware of all the aspects of their duty.