NH jury nullification law signed, effective 1/1/13

**Friday** · 07-02-2012, 10:50 AM

I searched and found no other posts, thought this might be of interest to some.

http://www.policemisconduct.net/jury...hire-governor/

**Boghog1** · 07-02-2012, 10:55 AM

Very nice!

**KBCraig** · 07-02-2012, 10:57 AM

It's a beautiful thing.

I actually prefer that it's not a mandate. A mandate would come with mandatory language, which would be written by judges, and would make eyes glaze over and juries would have no idea what it meant.

The "shall allow" language means the defense can inform the jury in the way they see fit.

**MaverickNH** · 07-02-2012, 01:21 PM

Worth keeping in your wallet:

"It is presumed that juries are the best judges of fact. Accordingly, you are the sole judges of true facts in the case.

I think it requires no explanation, however, that judges are presumed to be the best judges of the law. Accordingly, you must accept my instructions as being correct statements of the legal principles that generally apply in a case of the type you have heard.

The order in which the instructions are given is no indication of their relative importance. You should not single out certain instructions and disregard others but should construe each one in the light of and in harmony with the others.

These principles are intended to help you in reaching a fair result in this case. You should give them due respect. Moreover, justice will ordinarily be done by applying them as a whole to the facts which you find have seen proven. You should do just that if, by doing so, you can do justice in this case.

Even so, it is difficult to draft legal statements that are so exact that they are right for all conceivable circumstances. Accordingly, you are entitled to act upon your conscientious feeling about what is a fair result in this case, and acquit the defendant if you believe that justice requires such a result.

Exercise your judgment without passion or prejudice, but with honesty and understanding. Give respectful regard to my statements of the law for what help they may be in arriving at a conscientious determination of justice in this case. That is your highest duty as a public body and as officers of this court."

**mremski** · 07-02-2012, 03:23 PM

Jaywalkers shall be hung from the neck until dead, smokers shall be pummeled repeatedly about the head and shoulders until they desist, drunk drivers shall take the Ted Kennedy swimming test and the jury shall no prejudge the guilty, sorry, strike that, the defendent until all arguments have been heard.

**KBCraig** · 07-02-2012, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by MaverickNH

Worth keeping in your wallet:

"It is presumed that juries are the best judges of fact. Accordingly, you are the sole judges of true facts in the case...."

This is exactly the piece I was talking about when I said eyes would glaze over.

Your average juror would listen to that and have no idea what it meant.

**knoxy** · 07-07-2012, 12:42 PM

I did jury duty in NH a few years ago. IIRC, one of the instructions was to only make a finding based on the letter of the law as described by the judge, or some such BS. Basically made it sound like using our own judgement was prohibited.

All of the cases I saw were really lame attempts by the state to make criminals out of law abiding citizens. There was alot of twisting of facts & embellishment by the state prosecution. Fortunately, I was glad to deliver 3 not-guilty verdicts.

**KBCraig** · 07-08-2012, 07:27 AM

Originally Posted by knoxy

I was glad to deliver 3 not-guilty verdicts.

+1 inbound.

I've never set on a criminal jury. I sat on a federal medical malpractice civl suit once, and was called for municipal traffic court jury duty (I didn't even know my tiny suburb had a court!), but the defendant didn't show up. Judge (I didn't know we had a judge!) declared him guilty in absentia, and told us where to go to the clerk's office for lunch and pay vouchers.

I long for the day when I sit on a criminal jury. Most people try to get out of them, but I would love the chance.

**knoxy** · 07-08-2012, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by KBCraig

+1 inbound.

I've never set on a criminal jury. I sat on a federal medical malpractice civl suit once, and was called for municipal traffic court jury duty (I didn't even know my tiny suburb had a court!), but the defendant didn't show up. Judge (I didn't know we had a judge!) declared him guilty in absentia, and told us where to go to the clerk's office for lunch and pay vouchers.

I long for the day when I sit on a criminal jury. Most people try to get out of them, but I would love the chance.

Careful what you wish for. There's some horrific shit that goes on out there. I was fortunate that the cases I dealt with were rather mundane for the most part and over with quickly. There was one case I was fortunately not selected for. Some goon beat the crap out of his infant baby, broke like 30 bones while pummelling it. It was scheduled to be a 2 week trial. I would have had a hard time sitting through that.

**mikem317** · 07-08-2012, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by knoxy

Careful what you wish for. There's some horrific shit that goes on out there. I was fortunate that the cases I dealt with were rather mundane for the most part and over with quickly. There was one case I was fortunately not selected for. Some goon beat the crap out of his infant baby, broke like 30 bones while pummelling it. It was scheduled to be a 2 week trial. I would have had a hard time sitting through that.

A friend of mine sat on a grand jury. And you do get to hear everything, from what I've told. Not uncommon for people to pass out or ask to be excused.

NH jury nullification law signed, effective 1/1/13

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NH jury nullification law signed, effective 1/1/13

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