Actually, you kinda need to convince your fellow jurors.
Hung jury is a mistrial. Mistrial means the prosecution can try again. (Double Jeopardy doesn’t apply to mistrials) If you were the only one who voted not-guilty, chances are, the next jury will vote unanimously guilty.
Its very easy to get kicked off jury before deliberations, so what you wanna do is: After deliberations begin, try to covertly nudge your fellow jurors. For example, if the suspect did not say anything that’s a confession, say “Are y’all sure this is the guy, I feel like he’s been set up.” Make excuses on why he might not be the perpetrator.
Only when you are sure that you don’t have a unanimous “not-guilty” then try to say things like: “But should we really convict this guy when the CEO that died was a horrible person?” Just try not to say “jury nullification”, keep making excuses on why you are voting “not-guilty”.
If you manage to convince your fellow jurors to all vote “not-guilty” then the suspect is free. Otherwise, it just get tried again and its another roll of dice on the next jury.
Ideally, yes, convince your fellow jurors. But if you can’t… a mistrial is still good. A new trial means a chance to change strategy with more information. Witnesses forget things, start changing up their stories. And there’s a chance the state will not retry - trials are expensive and time consuming, and a successful prosecution becomes less likely with each mistrial.
If you want to vote not guilty, you can. For whatever reason you choose.
I will tell you what the jury orientation movie said (in San Francisco Superior Court), The jury is the last line of defense against injustice.
And that tells me (juxtaposed to Blackstone’s ratio) that jury nullification is a duty if the law seems unfair, if the sentence may be too harsh or too cruel, if the standard of proof is too low, or if the rights of the defendant were unduly violated by law enforcement, the prosecution or the court (say, hacking the defendant’s phone without a specific warrant, or using an IMSI catcher to locate the phone without a signed court order in advance).
Or if there’s already evidence of miscarriage of justice, such as law enforcement officers lying in court in an effort to secure the conviction.
In the US our courts are already corrupt like nano SD cards, and they go through great lengths to choose jurors who will give them a blanket conviction without consideration of the fairness of the law. And yet if jurors are the last line of defense then it means it’s their responsibility to make sure no unreasonable law is upheld, to assure that no-one is sent into the (squalid, abusive) prison industrial complex if the wrongdoing doesn’t warrant such cruelty.
If in the future, I’m no longer depressed, I still wanna go on a jury, ya know, just to experience a once-in-a-lifetime courtroom process. #Murica ya know 😉
²³⁸U: I mean I’m happy to serve, but my diagnoses are on record. I’m on disability. Do you really want me? Jury Pool Clerk: Are you a danger to yourself or others? ²³⁸U:That’s the bar? I just need to not be a threat? Jury Pool Clerk: <giggles> This is America. ²³⁸U: Fair enough. I’ll see you on Tuesday at… holy crap eight in the morning.
In Yolo county, I called in saying I’m eager to serve but need a ride, and they immediate cancelled my Jury Duty.
Don’t ever mention it anywhere near court.
You don’t need to convince fellow jurors, you don’t need to convince the judge. Vote your conscience and shut up about the reasons.
Actually, you kinda need to convince your fellow jurors.
Hung jury is a mistrial. Mistrial means the prosecution can try again. (Double Jeopardy doesn’t apply to mistrials) If you were the only one who voted not-guilty, chances are, the next jury will vote unanimously guilty.
Its very easy to get kicked off jury before deliberations, so what you wanna do is: After deliberations begin, try to covertly nudge your fellow jurors. For example, if the suspect did not say anything that’s a confession, say “Are y’all sure this is the guy, I feel like he’s been set up.” Make excuses on why he might not be the perpetrator.
Only when you are sure that you don’t have a unanimous “not-guilty” then try to say things like: “But should we really convict this guy when the CEO that died was a horrible person?” Just try not to say “jury nullification”, keep making excuses on why you are voting “not-guilty”.
If you manage to convince your fellow jurors to all vote “not-guilty” then the suspect is free. Otherwise, it just get tried again and its another roll of dice on the next jury.
Ideally, yes, convince your fellow jurors. But if you can’t… a mistrial is still good. A new trial means a chance to change strategy with more information. Witnesses forget things, start changing up their stories. And there’s a chance the state will not retry - trials are expensive and time consuming, and a successful prosecution becomes less likely with each mistrial.
If you want to vote not guilty, you can. For whatever reason you choose.
I will tell you what the jury orientation movie said (in San Francisco Superior Court), The jury is the last line of defense against injustice.
And that tells me (juxtaposed to Blackstone’s ratio) that jury nullification is a duty if the law seems unfair, if the sentence may be too harsh or too cruel, if the standard of proof is too low, or if the rights of the defendant were unduly violated by law enforcement, the prosecution or the court (say, hacking the defendant’s phone without a specific warrant, or using an IMSI catcher to locate the phone without a signed court order in advance).
Or if there’s already evidence of miscarriage of justice, such as law enforcement officers lying in court in an effort to secure the conviction.
In the US our courts are already corrupt like nano SD cards, and they go through great lengths to choose jurors who will give them a blanket conviction without consideration of the fairness of the law. And yet if jurors are the last line of defense then it means it’s their responsibility to make sure no unreasonable law is upheld, to assure that no-one is sent into the (squalid, abusive) prison industrial complex if the wrongdoing doesn’t warrant such cruelty.
But it gets you out of jury duty
Nah, depression already gets me out.
If in the future, I’m no longer depressed, I still wanna go on a jury, ya know, just to experience a once-in-a-lifetime courtroom process. #Murica ya know 😉
My experience in San Francisco was this:
²³⁸U: I mean I’m happy to serve, but my diagnoses are on record. I’m on disability. Do you really want me?
Jury Pool Clerk: Are you a danger to yourself or others?
²³⁸U: That’s the bar? I just need to not be a threat?
Jury Pool Clerk: <giggles> This is America.
²³⁸U: Fair enough. I’ll see you on Tuesday at… holy crap eight in the morning.
In Yolo county, I called in saying I’m eager to serve but need a ride, and they immediate cancelled my Jury Duty.