For those of you who get excited about Jury Nullification

[dukkillr]

 

A funny thing happened on the way to a trial in Missoula County District Court last week.

Jurors – well, potential jurors – staged a revolt.

They took the law into their own hands, as it were, and made it clear they weren’t about to convict anybody for having a couple of buds of marijuana. Never mind that the defendant in question also faced a felony charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.

The tiny amount of marijuana police found while searching Touray Cornell’s home on April 23 became a huge issue for some members of the jury panel.

No, they said, one after the other. No way would they convict somebody for having a 16th of an ounce.

In fact, one juror wondered why the county was wasting time and money prosecuting the case at all, said a flummoxed Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul.

From the Missoulian here: http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_464bdc0a-0b36-11e0-a594-001cc4c03286.html

It has also been my personal experience that juries are becoming increasingly hostile to the idea that their tax dollars are paying for the prosecution and incarceration of minor drug possession.

[crustylicious]

Might make a good play- "Twelve Angry Stoners"

[Pat/Rick]

Though I do not partake of the herb myself, I have to agree that trials like these are a waste of "OUR" money. A revolving door policy with illegal immigration, hands tied with "basic law enforcement 101" about profiling. Wouldn't a 100.00 fine served the purpose?  It would be interesting to see the "stats" for the prosecutor. Does he/she have ambitions further along the courts trail? Easy convictions to obtain the numbers needed to impress collegues?  Good for the jury members, and their ability to know when it is time to stand up to a corrupt system.

[billy_56081]

THree cheers for the jury, too bad the jurors for the Tiller the baby killer trial didn't do the same. Hope to see more and more of this. Thanks for sharing Dukk.

[MGMorden]

Wouldn't a 100.00 fine served the purpose?

Depends on whether or not you think you were in the wrong or not.  I've know people to hire a lawyer at $1,000 to fight a $400 ticket.  They knew that it wasn't economically beneficial - they just didn't want the system convicting them of anything when they felt they had done nothing wrong.

Mark my words - I don't know about all drugs, but marijuana specifically will be legal in most parts of the country within 20 years.  Last time I saw stats, nearly 60% of the population has tried it at one time or another (and I actually say this as part of the 40% that hasn't - nor haven I ever even smoked tobacco), and a majority didn't feel there was anything at all wrong with it.

When you have public opinion turning that much on a law (with positive support constantly increasing), it will eventually become impossible to maintain it any longer.

[dukkillr]

Thanks for sharing Dukk.

Any time.