years ago I plead guilty on a stupid charge that in some places would be ripe for jury nullification. Discussing options w/my lawyer he advised me that it’s deeply foolish to hope someone on the jury will share your opinion on the absurdity of the charges, jury nullification is basically nonexistent
You will never actually know if that is true, and your lawyer will never know either, because of the Comply In Advance machine. Hardly ever put to the test. Also, "peer pressure", why on earth would anyone care what 11 total strangers you will never see again think
On the first part I mean yeah, sure, to a degree, but if you have a lawyer you trust & they’ve been repping defendants in that community for over a decade they probably have a good sense of the odds.
And yeah the “comply in advance machine” sucks, but like, in my case the offer was no jail, community service & $2k fines if I took the plea, or the DA would ask for 3 months jail if I lost at trial. 3 months in jail is enough to lose everything. Maybe the DA is bluffing, but do you chance it?
I did not mean to judge you for your choices. The sandwich guy is as far from a typical criminal assault case as can be imagined.
On the jury peer pressure thing, that’s just basic social dynamics. Some people can resist that for awhile, but if you’re the one keeping everyone from going home day after day…people care about that stuff, it’s not easy pissing off people you’re spending all day locked in a room with
I've never been on a jury, but it shouldn't take any significant education to realize that if you say "not guilty", it's over and they can't do jack about it. As for peer pressure, I don't get it. Make clear you're not changing your mind and the jury can quit at any time, can they not?
Not really? I think you risk a mistrial—meaning they can just do a new trial with a new jury—depending on the specific circumstances, including if the judge thinks someone is doing jury nullification rather than deciding the facts of the case.
I don’t know the standards & it probably varies by state, but your refusal to come to a unanimous verdict can lead to extended deliberations and eventually a hung jury rather than the trial ends and everyone gets to go home
You're right but I think a lot of it is based on ignorance. It sure doesn't help that judges basically lie about it to the juries, and lawyers select against knowledge of it when picking the members of those juries.