Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts

Andrew Napolitano - The President and The Courts

Last week, in a public courtroom in the federal courthouse in Seattle, the states of Washington and Minnesota — after suing President Donald Trump, alleging injury caused by his executive order that suspended the immigration of all people from seven foreign countries — asked a federal judge to compel the president and all those who work for him to cease enforcing the order immediately. After a brief emergency oral argument, the judge signed a temporary restraining order,  ... MORE

Green Light For Jury-Nullification Crusaders

by Emma Gannone.     The 10th Circuit upheld an injunction that lets protesters disseminate pamphlets about jury nullification outside a state courthouse in Colorado. Jury nullification describes the practice by which a jury acquits a defendant, despite evidence of his guilt, because the jury members believe the law at issue is immoral. Protests over   ... MORE

Protecting Consumers From Speech-Chilling Lawsuits

by Michael Beckerman.    Summer is almost here, which means sun, fun, and summer vacations. It also means many of us are going to be spending time browsing online reviews to preview the good, the bad, and the ugly on travel locations. Imagine a world in which a hotel company could sue customers because they didn’t like their stay. What if  ... MORE

Juries Were Supposed To Be Able To Overturn Laws

by Clay Conrad.   History is clear. The law is unclear on exactly what a jury is. Juries can range from four to 12 members, depending on the state and case. In two states, criminal juries need not reach unanimous judgments. In some states, jurors can question witnesses. There have even been arguments for so-called professional jurors. Some believe   ... MORE

VIDEO: Jury Nullification, Jury Rights & Jury Independence

Ed Spillane: Many Judges Continue To Jail Defendants Without Money To Pay Fines. Here Are The Alternatives.

Why one judge refuses to send such folks to jail.   Melissa J. showed up in my court last year with four kids in tow. Her children quietly watched from a nearby table while I spoke with her. The charges against her — driving with an invalid license, driving without insurance, not wearing a seat belt, failure to use a child safety seat properly  ... MORE

Juries Should Rein In Prosecutors With Too Much Power

by Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Washington Post.    If there’s strong evidence that you’ve committed a crime, there’s still hope. Despite the evidence, those responsible for convicting you may choose to let you go, if they think that sending you to jail would result in an injustice. That can happen through what’s called “prosecutorial discretion,” where  ... MORE

Let's Hope For Jury Nullification: Prosecutor Wants Man To Serve 20 Years In Prison For Stealing $31 Worth Of Candy

by Josie Duffy.    What if justice was a result and not just a process? Louisiana has the dubious honor of being the most incarceratory state in the world's most incarceratory country. In New Orleans, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizaro has been hailed as a reformer—organizations like Court Watch NOLA and others have publicly    ... MORE

Jurors Need To Take The Law Into Their Own Hands

by Paul Butler, Washington Post.  I learned about jury nullification while serving as a prosecutor in the District in the 1990s. As a rookie, I was warned that in nonviolent drug cases, it would be tough to get a conviction, no matter how strong my evidence was. The experienced prosecutors explained that the African American jurors “didn’t    ... MORE

Robert Gebelhoff: How Powerful Should Our Juries Be?

Justice is a result, not just a process.  In 1986, Leroy Reed faced criminal charges he didn’t understand. A mentally disabled ex-convict from Milwaukee, Reed was charged with illegally possessing a firearm after his parole office discovered that he had purchased a .22-caliber pistol to go with a mail-order private detective course. While it was obvious  ... MORE

Mark Levin: The Three Top Federal Gov't Responsibilities

by Michael Morris. On his new television show Levin TV on Wednesday, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin asked and answered a question similar to the one posed to Donald Trump at a recent CNN Town Hall: “Well, what then are the three top responsibilities, let’s say, of the federal government?” “Well, what then are the three top     ... MORE

The Clinton Investigation Enters A Dangerous Phase

by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano.      The FBI investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's failure to protect state secrets contained in her emails has entered its penultimate phase, and it is a dangerous one for her and her aides. Federal law enforcement sources have let it be known that federal prosecutors and the FBI have   ... MORE

Ali Waked: Saudi Arabia Proposes Executions Of Gays

The birthplace of Islam.    The Saudi judiciary has demanded stricter punishments, including death sentences, against homosexuals who display their sexuality in public and on social media, Okaz newspaper reported. According to the paper, over the last six months the Saudi judiciary reviewed 35 cases of homosexuality and what it calls sexual     ... MORE

Bob Unruh: How Much Power Do Juries Really Have?

Answer: much more than they are told. A case against a Michigan man for handing out informational leaflets on jury nullification in front of a courthouse could impact what juries can do and how much control judges and prosecutors have of their decision-making process. “Freedom of speech is not absolute,” argued Brian E. Theide, who is        ... MORE

Jury Nullification Gets Big Boost From Lawmakers

by Bob Unruh. Because justice is a result, not just a process.   A New Hampshire bill would require state courts to inform juries that a defendant who has been shown to have committed a crime can be declared not guilty if a guilty verdict would “yield an unjust result,” a concept known as jury nullification. The plan, approved 184-145 by the state House  ... MORE

Woman Arrested For Protecting Dog From Cop Acquitted

by Jacob Sullum. Last week a West Virginia woman who stood between her dog and a state trooper intent on killing him was acquitted of obstructing an officer by a jury in Wood County. It took jurors just half an hour to acquit 23-year-old Tiffanie Hupp after they watched the video of the incident that Hupp's husband, Ryan, shot with his cellphone.  ... MORE

New Hampshire Committee Approves Jury Nullification Bill

Because justice is a result, not just a process. A New Hampshire House committee has approved a bill that would make jury nullification an official aspect of the state legal system. A coalition of nine representatives introduced House Bill 1270 (HB1270) in January. The legislation would allow a defendant or defense attorney to request that the court  ... MORE