During prohibition, especially in Florida, jurors just plain refused to convict rum runners. This irritated prosecutors so much that they first subverted the right against double jeopardy, but that didn’t work, because they couldn’t get a jury to convict no matter how hard they tried.
So judges hit on the idea of using an injunction against them that was so restrictive they couldn’t conduct business. This worked, because if they violated terms of their injunction, they would immediately be taken before that same judge, who would convict them on the spot for “contempt of court”, which didn’t merit a jury trial. So that was up to one year in jail.
Almost immediately this was corrupted so that there was no way they could *not* violate the injunction, including the use of clearly unconstitutional restrictions.
And even when prohibition ended, these techniques did not. Some are still in use. So while jury nullification might work for a while, a court system that does not care what the public thinks will seek to overcome it.
And even when prohibition ended, these techniques did not. Some are still in use. So while jury nullification might work for a while, a court system that does not care what the public thinks will seek to overcome it.
The current war on drugs is being misused in similar ways to subvert our rights. I wish we actually learned something from history.