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Thread: Michigan man gets jail time for distributing jury nullification flyers outside courthouse

  1. #1

    Michigan man gets jail time for distributing jury nullification flyers outside courthouse

    Michigan man gets jail time for distributing jury nullification flyers outside courthouse

    https://www.rt.com/usa/397170-mecost...wood-sentence/

    A former pastor has been sentenced to eight weekends in jail for jury tampering after distributing pamphlets on a sidewalk in front of a Michigan courthouse. The man argued he was exercising his free speech rights while advocating for jury nullification.
    On Friday, District Judge Kimberly Booher ordered Keith Wood to serve eight weekends in jail, six months of probation and pay fines, according to WMXI.

    The prosecution asked the judge to sentence Wood to 45 days in jail, but defense attorneys argued that was inappropriate since Wood has no prior criminal record, is self-employed and he is the only financial supporter for his wife and eight children.

    Booher agreed to a shortened sentence, but said it would be inappropriate for him not to serve jail time.


    Wood was arrested in 2015 after handing out a pamphlet from the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) entitled “Your Jury Rights: True or False?’’ while standing on a public sidewalk in front of a courthouse in Big Rapids.

    Prosecutors argued that Wood was trying to influence potential jurors before they heard a case against Andy Yoder, an Amish man who was accused of draining a wetland that was on his property.

    Yoder took a plea deal that day and the case never went to trial. Wood said he did not know Yoder, and he only wanted to inform potential jurors that they had the right to vote their conscience over the law.

    Wood initially faced a felony charge for obstruction of justice and a misdemeanor for attempting to influence jurors. His bond was set at $150,000, but he was released after posting 10 percent of the bond or $1,500.

    The felony charge, which carried a possible five-year sentence and up to $10,000 in fines, was dropped last March. Then, in June, a jury of six found Wood guilty of attempting to influence a jury, which, according to Michigan law involves someone who "willfully attempts to influence the decision of a juror in any case by argument or persuasion, other than as part of the proceedings in open court in the trial of the case."

    The FIJA website argues that Wood was not discussing any particular case with anyone, therefore, he was not trying to influence the jurors.

    Wood’s attorney, David Kallman, argued that his client was only trying to educate the public about the rights jurors have and “judges don’t tell you about.”


    “He exercised what he believes are his free speech rights, did it out on the sidewalk before this court, and that because of that, that deserves 45 days in jail, let alone one day in jail?" Kallman said, according to WMXI. "I totally disagree with that.”

    Nathan Hull, the assistant prosecutor for Mecosta County, however, argued that Wood was not innocent.

    "This is not a person who made a one-time mistake, he hasn’t demonstrated that he has kind of shown that he realizes now the significance of what he’s done, in fact the testimony shows the contrary," Hull said, according to WMXI.

    Kallman told WMXI that he plans to appeal the misdemeanor conviction.



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  3. #2
    They definitely need to appeal this to the appellate level. I think they have a good chance to overturn this there.
    There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
    (1 John 4:18)

  4. #3
    10% of 150,000 is 1,500?

  5. #4
    Free on appeal


    Michigan Juror Rights Pamphleteer Free From Jail Pending His Appeal

    http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/24/mi...hleteer-free-f

    Keith Wood argues that his distribution of flyers was protected by the First Amendment.

    Jacob Sullum|July 24, 2017 3:45 pm

    Keith Wood, the Michigan activist who was sentenced to jail last week for handing out pamphlets on the sidewalk in front of the Mecosta County courthouse, was freed on Friday pending his appeal of his jury tampering conviction. Judge Eric Janes granted an emergency stay of Wood's sentence, which includes eight weekends in jail as well as six months of probation, 120 hours of community service, and $545 in fines, after considering the arguments that his attorney, David Kallman, is raising on appeal, which include the trial judge's refusal to allow a First Amendment defense.

    Kallman argues that Wood's distribution of Your Jury Rights: True or False?, a flyer published by the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA), was constitutionally protected speech. The FIJA pamphlet argues that jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts of a case and to acquit a defendant in the interest of justice even when he is guilty according to the judge's instructions regarding the law.

    "By prosecuting Mr. Wood," Kallman said in his 2015 motion to dismiss, "the State is engaged in nothing less than tyranny and oppression. Few legal principles are more clear than the one stating that 'handing out leaflets in the advocacy of a politically controversial viewpoint...is the essence of First Amendment expression.'" After refusing to dismiss the jury tampering charge against Wood on First Amendment grounds, Judge Kimberly Booher told Kallman he could not mention the issue to the jury, which convicted Wood last month.

    Kallman also maintains that Booher erred by prohibiting him from arguing that Wood could not be guilty of trying to "influence the decision of a juror in any case by argument or persuasion" because there was no case to influence. The only case pending at the courthouse on the day Wood distributed the flyers, which involved a man accused of illegally filling a wetland on his own property, was settled by a guilty plea that day.

    Kallman likewise says Booher should have let him argue that none of the passers-by to whom Wood gave pamphlets could have qualified as a juror. "We argued, and the Michigan Supreme Court has agreed in earlier case precedent, that a person is not a juror until sworn in to serve on a jury in a case," he says. Since no jury was ever chosen in the wetland case, Kallman argues, there were no jurors to persuade.

    Kallman says an assistant prosecutor asked Judge Janes for a gag order that would have prohibited Kallman and Wood from publicly discussing the case. "She was very upset with the media attention given this case and did not want me talking with the media," Kallman says. "The judge dismissed the request out of hand."

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Free on appeal


    Michigan Juror Rights Pamphleteer Free From Jail Pending His Appeal

    http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/24/mi...hleteer-free-f

    Keith Wood argues that his distribution of flyers was protected by the First Amendment.

    Jacob Sullum|July 24, 2017 3:45 pm

    Keith Wood, the Michigan activist who was sentenced to jail last week for handing out pamphlets on the sidewalk in front of the Mecosta County courthouse, was freed on Friday pending his appeal of his jury tampering conviction. Judge Eric Janes granted an emergency stay of Wood's sentence, which includes eight weekends in jail as well as six months of probation, 120 hours of community service, and $545 in fines, after considering the arguments that his attorney, David Kallman, is raising on appeal, which include the trial judge's refusal to allow a First Amendment defense.

    Kallman argues that Wood's distribution of Your Jury Rights: True or False?, a flyer published by the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA), was constitutionally protected speech. The FIJA pamphlet argues that jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts of a case and to acquit a defendant in the interest of justice even when he is guilty according to the judge's instructions regarding the law.

    "By prosecuting Mr. Wood," Kallman said in his 2015 motion to dismiss, "the State is engaged in nothing less than tyranny and oppression. Few legal principles are more clear than the one stating that 'handing out leaflets in the advocacy of a politically controversial viewpoint...is the essence of First Amendment expression.'" After refusing to dismiss the jury tampering charge against Wood on First Amendment grounds, Judge Kimberly Booher told Kallman he could not mention the issue to the jury, which convicted Wood last month.

    Kallman also maintains that Booher erred by prohibiting him from arguing that Wood could not be guilty of trying to "influence the decision of a juror in any case by argument or persuasion" because there was no case to influence. The only case pending at the courthouse on the day Wood distributed the flyers, which involved a man accused of illegally filling a wetland on his own property, was settled by a guilty plea that day.

    Kallman likewise says Booher should have let him argue that none of the passers-by to whom Wood gave pamphlets could have qualified as a juror. "We argued, and the Michigan Supreme Court has agreed in earlier case precedent, that a person is not a juror until sworn in to serve on a jury in a case," he says. Since no jury was ever chosen in the wetland case, Kallman argues, there were no jurors to persuade.

    Kallman says an assistant prosecutor asked Judge Janes for a gag order that would have prohibited Kallman and Wood from publicly discussing the case. "She was very upset with the media attention given this case and did not want me talking with the media," Kallman says. "The judge dismissed the request out of hand."
    AWESOME!

    Sounds like a judge with some ethics- finally!
    There is no spoon.

  7. #6
    District Judge Kimberly Booher seems like SCOTUS material.

  8. #7
    Thank you Keith Wood for your sacrifices for the cause of liberty.
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    It's a balance between appeasing his supporters, appeasing the deep state and reaching his own goals.
    ~Resident Badgiraffe




  9. #8
    I don't know how you can convict without entering the pamphlet as evidence.
    All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State.
    -Albert Camus



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  11. #9
    If only someone had been handing out pamphlets the day the jury was selected for Keith Woods' trial.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing." - Dr. Ron Paul. "Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone." - Sophie Magdalena Scholl
    "War is the health of the State." - Randolph Bourne "Freedom is the answer. ... Now, what's the question?" - Ernie Hancock.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by AZJoe View Post
    If only someone had been handing out pamphlets the day the jury was selected for Keith Woods' trial.
    Yep. Make them arrest us all.
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    It's a balance between appeasing his supporters, appeasing the deep state and reaching his own goals.
    ~Resident Badgiraffe




  13. #11
    The pamphlets were handed out on public sidewalk outside the courthouse to anyone. No one disputes the free speech rights to hand out pamphlets at the location, yet judge Booher (or is it Boo Her!) rejected all free speech defenses.
    The pamphlets were created many years before any events involved in the Andy Yoder case. They say nothing about the Yoder case. They did not mention any facts of the Yoder case. They do not suggest how any jury should vote in the Yoder case, or in any case.
    The pamphlets provide a short history of the jury. They state the jury's power to convict when the facts and law warrant it, but highlights the jury's not as well known inviolate power to acquit when facts and conscience warrant it.
    Jury tampering? How by any stretch of the imagination is this undue influence of a juror in any particular case, let alone the Yoder case? There is no threat. There is no bribe. It does not argue how anyone should vote in any case. There is not even any presentation of facts, arguments or even discussion about the Yoder case or any particular pending case.

    Under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), even advocacy of criminal conduct is constitutionally protected unless it is both intended and likely to cause imminent criminal acts. Thus one can stand on the sidewalk outside the Courthouse and advocate jihad, bombings of medical marijuana dispensaries, or some future death of Trump, and the Courts would uphold all of that as protected. Yet distribute some pamphlets with content originally created decades ago by fija.org that don't even discuss any pending case, and you go to jail.

    There are at least some good judges. A federal judge in Colorado issued an injunction recognizing the distribution of the nullification pamphlets as protected for identical conduct distributing identical flyers outside a Denver courthouse. The 10th Circuit Appellate Court affirmed the District Court's injunction.
    Last edited by AZJoe; 07-25-2017 at 10:51 AM.
    "Let it not be said that we did nothing." - Dr. Ron Paul. "Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone." - Sophie Magdalena Scholl
    "War is the health of the State." - Randolph Bourne "Freedom is the answer. ... Now, what's the question?" - Ernie Hancock.

  14. #12
    Really telling how the prosecution was desperately trying to quash any reporting, debate or awareness of the issue. Just for them, I'm doing my part to make this story go viral on the internets. Cheers!

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    Booher agreed to a shortened sentence, but said it would be inappropriate for him not to serve jail time.
    Doubleplusgood, Comrade Judge Booher. Thoughtcrime should never go unpunished.

    “[Wood] exercised what he believes are his free speech rights [...]" [Wood's attorney David] Kallman said [...]
    Proles like Wood are not capable of understanding such subtleties. Thus, it must be for Comrade Judge Booher and Comrade Prosecutor Hull to decide.




    "This is not a person who made a one-time mistake [...]," [assistant prosecutor Nathan] Hull said [...].
    That's right. This is not a person who made a one-time mistake.

    This is a person who did not make any "mistake" at all.

    The only mistake in any of this is that the likes of Booher and Nathan are allowed to engage in the production and/or application of fiat law.

    And fiat law doesn't work out any better than fiat money does ... (except for state-appointed central bankers judges & prosecutors ...).
    The Bastiat Collection · FREE PDF · FREE EPUB · PAPER
    Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)

    • "When law and morality are in contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of losing his respect for the law."
      -- The Law (p. 54)
    • "Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
      -- Government (p. 99)
    • "[W]ar is always begun in the interest of the few, and at the expense of the many."
      -- Economic Sophisms - Second Series (p. 312)
    • "There are two principles that can never be reconciled - Liberty and Constraint."
      -- Harmonies of Political Economy - Book One (p. 447)

    · tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito ·



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