Jury Nulification

Recently, I pass through Arizona to visit some long lost friends. I am licensed for medical marijuana use in my state, but not in other states, nor do you even consider crossing state lines with your medicine in tow.

The friend that I visited is a pretty sharp business lawyer and does not do criminal cases. However, the subject got around to how he would pick and chose his cases that he took "all the way". Keeping in mind, that clearly 90% of all lawsuits (he corrected me an told me that you file a complaint, not a lawsuit, but WTF) were settled out of court before it ever went to trial. But certain cases, such as the use of Medical Marijuana just screams for presentation to a jury.

Can you imagine some old codger like me (age 61) getting ready to kick the bucket, Chohn's Disease, IBS, Arthritis and Cancer all rolled into one, going in front of a jury and simply asking if I just couldn't die "my way" instead of getting all drugged out of my mind on everything from Morphine to some really heavy shit that we really don't want to talk about? Arizona passed Prop 202 but fucked the people of Arizona by making it mandatory you have a prescription signed by a Doctor to possess and use it for medical purposes. No Doctor is going to write script althought according to 74% of the Medical Doctors sampled, they would recommend its use to patients that other "stuff" would not work.

But here's the deal, common sense would have to rule and when it comes down to a jury, they make the law and they are the law for that moment in time. I don't advocate that someone go get busted just to prove a point or find a loop hole around the law. But OJ proved something really important that I think most of the population overlooked; that when it comes down to it, the Jury decides and not the prosecution, not the police, not society and not political correctness. The Jury is the Law.

I think if enough people fight this crazy stuff that the Fed's are pushing down our throats, enough medical patients go in front of juries and say "hey WTF, what difference does it make, I am going to croak, why not go out with a little less pain and suffering?" then I think you would have public opinion turn the tides against the insanity.

Just my thoughts on this Thursday night, but what the heck do I know?

Jury Nullification is a legitimate defense, I highly recommend attempting it ... the reason I say 'attempting', is that, judges usually won't 'allow' you to inform the jury of the Nullification privilege :wtf: ... yes we have 'rights', but they are limited to whatever the judge says they are, in his courtroom ... :wtf:

I agree. Its one of our last few rights. They've even talked about doing away with that and having what they call professional jurors. Thats all they do is sit on juries. If its a state case irs pretty easy to get the arguement of medical neccesity in front of jury. If its a federal case its just about impossible unless you take the stand yourself and state your case. The judge will probably find you in contempt but its worth it just to get the arguement in front of the jury.

the argument I present, is why is it no longer my choice which medication I consume to alleviate symptoms...They say insanity can be described as performing the same action time and time again expecting different results...I'm not going to take narcotics for my back pain when I've proven to myself time and time again they are about 5% efficacy compared to cannabis..

If the pharmaceutical, private prison, tobacco and alcohol, etc..all of those industries are way too powerful, and they would be hurt if marijuana was sold in stores...I'd quit smoking cigarettes in a heartbeat if I could buy and smoke marijuana legally...but at this point I can't risk smelling like marijuana, so I light up a cigarette to mask it...I'm sure I'm not the only one that does that either..a massive combination of factors...all revolving around profit

The reason this hasn't happened yet is because the vast majority of people don't have the balls to stand up to the feds, the judge or the jury when the situation arises.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JohnnyZ

The reason this hasn't happened yet is because the vast majority of people don't have the balls to stand up to the feds, the judge or the jury when the situation arises.

---

Actually for me, it was because I couldn't afford an attorney, and the DA, didn't want a jury trial, so the attorney told me that since I broke the law this and that the DA wouldn't allow a jury to not convict me, so you're in fact wrong. If it ever happens again, I'm going in front of a jury.

court appointed attorney has a lot more to do with the court than they should, I'd just like to know how much of my court costs/fines went to that dumb bitch..