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View Full Version : Ben Swann Announces "JUST US" Jury Nullification




ZENemy
11-11-2013, 11:11 AM
Ben Swann, Luke Rudowski, Tatiana Moroz, Jeff Berwick, Josh Tolley, Angela Keaton, Jordan Page, Bob Murphy and Joby Weeks talk about a new public awareness campaign they have begun to encourage jury nullification. it is called "Just Us". Go sign up for jury duty and learn more at www.benswann.com






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnOyyCIhM3k

jct74
11-11-2013, 11:44 AM
good jurors nullify bad laws. thank you Ben Swann, I'm glad to see this.

ZENemy
11-11-2013, 11:49 AM
good jurors nullify bad laws. thank you Ben Swann, I'm glad to see this.

Me too! This is the type of grassroots action that really makes an impact.

Henry Rogue
11-11-2013, 01:20 PM
Bob Murphy was there, I wonder why Tom Woods wasn't. He has been talking about nullification for quite awhile.

Kotin
11-11-2013, 01:37 PM
Bob Murphy was there, I wonder why Tom Woods wasn't. He has been talking about nullification for quite awhile.

Yeah Tom needs to be in on this as he is one of the absolute best articulators of the message of liberty and specifically nullification.

Tod
11-11-2013, 02:44 PM
The "they're all sitting around here like the Last Supper" rendered this video unfit to be shared with most of the people I know. :(


edit: just sent him a You Tube PM asking for a trimmed version without that opening sentence.

Keith and stuff
11-11-2013, 03:04 PM
Excellent! +Rep
I'm glad people outside of New Hampshire are doing serious, useful stuff on this issue. The poster in DC was classic!

If anyone needs tip on how to get the law changed so that a defendant can spend several minutes talking about this in front of a jury without the prosecution stopping you, I can tell you have we got it passed in New Hampshire.

Also, handing out FIJA flyers or even better, locally made flyers before all potential jurors is a great step. Here is the NH version. IMO, it has too many words but I didn't pay to design it or print it, I just hand them out so I can't really complain.

http://freekeene.com/2011/11/25/new-jury-outreach-flier-for-all-of-nh/

http://freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Juror_Trifold_Side1.jpg

http://freekeene.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Juror_Trifold_Side2.jpg

osan
11-11-2013, 03:08 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnOyyCIhM3k

It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not see this; do not want to see it. These are many. Are there enough of the other feather?

Keith and stuff
11-11-2013, 03:12 PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification#United_States


United States
In the United States, jury nullification first appeared in the pre-Civil War era when juries sometimes refused to convict for violations of the Fugitive Slave Act. Later, during Prohibition, juries often nullified alcohol control laws,[24] possibly as often as 60% of the time.[25] This resistance may have contributed to the adoption of the Twenty-first amendment repealing Prohibition, the Eighteenth amendment.

In a well-known example of jury nullification, at the end of James Hickok's trial for the manslaughter of Davis Tutt in 1865, Judge Sempronius Boyd gave the jury two instructions. He first instructed the jury that a conviction was its only option under the law, he then instructed them that they could apply the unwritten law of the "fair fight" and acquit. Hickok was acquitted, a verdict that was not popular with the public.[26][27]

Fugitive Slave Law
"Jury nullification" was practiced in the 1850s to protest the federal Fugitive Slave Act, which was part of the Compromise of 1850. The Act had been passed to mollify the slave owners from the South, who were otherwise threatening to secede from the Union. Across the North, local juries acquitted men accused of violating the law. Secretary of State Daniel Webster was a key supporter of the law as expressed in his famous "Seventh of March" speech. He wanted high-profile convictions.

The jury nullifications ruined his presidential aspirations and his last-ditch efforts to find a compromise between North and South. Webster led the prosecution when defendants were accused of rescuing Shadrach Minkins in 1851 from Boston officials who intended to return Minkins to his owner; the juries convicted none of the men. Webster tried to enforce a law that was extremely unpopular in the North, and his Whig Party passed over him again when they chose a presidential nominee in 1852.[28]

Post Civil War
White defendants accused of crimes against blacks and other minorities were often acquitted by all-white juries, especially in the South, even in the face of irrefutable evidence. [29][citation needed]
21st century

In the 21st century, many discussions of jury nullification center on drug laws that some consider unjust either in principle or because they are seen to discriminate[verification needed] against certain groups. A jury nullification advocacy group estimates that 3–4% of all jury trials involve nullification,[30] and a recent rise in hung juries is seen by some as being indirect evidence that juries have begun to consider the validity or fairness of the laws themselves.[31]
Judicial opinion in the US

In the 1895 in the case of Sparf v. United States written by Justice John Marshall Harlan, the United States Supreme Court held 5 to 4 that a trial judge has no responsibility to inform the jury of the right to nullify laws. This decision, often cited, has led to a common practice by United States judges to penalize anyone who attempts to present a nullification argument to jurors and to declare a mistrial if such argument has been presented to them. In some states, jurors are likely to be struck from the panel during voir dire if they will not agree to accept as correct the rulings and instructions of the law as provided by the judge.[32]

In recent rulings, the courts have continued to prohibit informing juries about jury nullification. In a 1969, Fourth Circuit decision, U.S. v. Moylan, 417 F.2d 1002 (4th Cir.1969), the Court affirmed the concept of jury nullification, but upheld the power of a court to refuse to permit an instruction to the jury to this effect.[33] In 1972, in United States v. Dougherty, 473 F.2d 1113, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling similar to Moylan that affirmed the de facto power of a jury to nullify the law but upheld the denial of the defense's chance to instruct the jury about the power to nullify.[34]

In 1988, the Sixth Circuit upheld a jury instruction: "There is no such thing as valid jury nullification." In 1997, the Second Circuit ruled that jurors can be removed if there is evidence that they intend to nullify the law, under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 23(b).[35] The Supreme Court has not recently confronted the issue of jury nullification. Further, as officers of the court, attorneys have sworn an oath to uphold the law, and are ethically prohibited from directly advocating for jury nullification.[36]

State laws
On June 18, 2012, New Hampshire passed a law explicitly allowing defense attorneys to inform juries about jury nullification.[37]

Mani
11-11-2013, 11:46 PM
I like this...Good stuff.

MRK
11-12-2013, 03:21 AM
Bob Murphy was there, I wonder why Tom Woods wasn't. He has been talking about nullification for quite awhile.

Probably because the speaker's fee was either nonexistent or not high enough for his tastes.

donnay
11-12-2013, 06:57 AM
Great grassroots project!

tod evans
11-12-2013, 06:58 AM
This needs to be spread in non-internet circles....

belian78
11-12-2013, 07:53 AM
The "they're all sitting around here like the Last Supper" rendered this video unfit to be shared with most of the people I know. :(


edit: just sent him a You Tube PM asking for a trimmed version without that opening sentence.
I live with and am friends with quite a few atheists, and would have no problem showing them this, and I will. If your friends/family will be turned off by that little of a phrase, I would say they have some deeper issues than not believing in a deity and they need to take a breath.

belian78
11-12-2013, 07:55 AM
Probably because the speaker's fee was either nonexistent or not high enough for his tastes.
Slander, awesome way to start the day on RPF.

MRK
11-12-2013, 10:25 AM
Slander, awesome way to start the day on RPF.

There is no slander here. Only in jest did I gave my opinion about the probable reason for his absence.

I would not call myself a "hater" as you said in your neg rep. In fact, I've personally contributed efforts towards fundraising for Mr. Woods to speak at an event. Have you?

And yes, even then he had a speaking fee. There's also been numerous threads about Mr. Woods requiring a fee to speak at events, which is understandable. As he has explained, his time is valuable. I understand this as well as he does. I have never said there was a problem with this.

tod evans
11-12-2013, 10:29 AM
I really wish Ben & Co. would relabel their push for nullification "Justice"..

"Just-Us" has some very negative connotations after being used to describe the "Just-Us" department for so many years..

belian78
11-12-2013, 10:46 AM
There is no slander here. Only in jest did I gave my opinion about the probable reason for his absence.

I would not call myself a "hater" as you said in your neg rep. In fact, I've personally contributed efforts towards fundraising for Mr. Woods to speak at an event. Have you?

And yes, even then he had a speaking fee. There's also been numerous threads about Mr. Woods requiring a fee to speak at events, which is understandable. As he has explained, his time is valuable. I understand this as well as he does. I have never said there was a problem with this.
So what was the whole point to your post then? Other than an example of your snark, and an unsuccessful attempt at being funny? Yes, I've sent money to Tom and seen him speak a few times.

Keith and stuff
11-12-2013, 11:29 AM
This needs to be spread in non-internet circles....
New Jersey weed man (he got off on marijuana charges in NJ) was going to drive around and do a jury nullification tour but he and the people that were going to make the trip into a documentary weren't able to raise the funds for the tour/documentary.

I'd love to see a lawmaker even introduce a bill in CA where jury nullification is considered illegal, just to get people there talking about it. Jury nullification tends to be better promoted on the East Coast where there have been billboards, subway signs, a guy spent months doing a tour of federal court houses and getting arrested over and over again, the law was changed in NH and there have been successful cases in NJ and NH. Don't get me wrong, I know good stuff has also happened in MT and other places but people in CA don't get news of that.

ZENemy
11-12-2013, 12:02 PM
New Jersey weed man (he got off on marijuana charges in NJ) was going to drive around and do a jury nullification tour but he and the people that were going to make the trip into a documentary weren't able to raise the funds for the tour/documentary.

I'd love to see a lawmaker even introduce a bill in CA where jury nullification is considered illegal, just to get people there talking about it. Jury nullification tends to be better promoted on the East Coast where there have been billboards, subway signs, a guy spent months doing a tour of federal court houses and getting arrested over and over again, the law was changed in NH and there have been successful cases in NJ and NH. Don't get me wrong, I know good stuff has also happened in MT and other places but people in CA don't get news of that.



We need to get creative

"HATE Red Light Cameras? google Jury Nullification"

Stuff like that.

matt0611
11-12-2013, 12:09 PM
This seems like a really good idea. Could really make an impact.


The "they're all sitting around here like the Last Supper" rendered this video unfit to be shared with most of the people I know. :(


edit: just sent him a You Tube PM asking for a trimmed version without that opening sentence.

Why? Are some atheists really that sensitive?

jct74
11-21-2013, 12:17 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKNZAt3ttU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKNZAt3ttU


Ben Swann, Luke Rudowski, Tatiana Moroz, Jeff Berwick, Josh Tolley, Angela Keaton, Jordan Page, Bob Murphy and Joby Weeks talk about a new public awareness campaign they have begun to encourage jury nullification. it is called "Just Us". Go sign up for jury duty.

jct74
11-21-2013, 12:18 PM
website: http://joinjustus.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Justusjurynullification

69360
11-21-2013, 01:45 PM
This happened recently near me.

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/09/26/news/midcoast/mistrial-declared-in-case-of-monroe-woman-after-jury-fails-to-reach-verdict/?ref=relatedBox


The family was growing dope. Didn't bother anyone. Ended in a hung jury and mistrial, somebody on the jury saved the wife from jail. Husband is on trial now, I have a feeling the same thing might happen to him. People around here stay out of other people's business.

ItsTime
11-22-2013, 12:57 PM
Probably because the speaker's fee was either nonexistent or not high enough for his tastes.

Tom Woods just happened not to be in Chile with the rest of them. I am sure Ben is working on reaching out to Tom Woods.

dude58677
11-22-2013, 01:49 PM
So where do we get started for this proposed money bomb on December 16, 2013?

ZENemy
12-18-2013, 02:49 PM
MOAR


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H5mFVGtLm4