Jury Nullification: The Indispensable Weapon August 14, 2008
by Will
Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute
August 14, 2008
Charles Lynch, who operated a medical dispensary in Morro Bay, California, was recently found guilty on five counts of distributing medical marijuana.
This was perfectly legal under California law. However, Lynch?s dispensary was raided by the scandal- plagued and abusive local Sheriff and the Drug Enforcement Agency, and he was tried in federal court.
State and local criminal statutes supersede federal laws; this was explained by James Madison in Federalist Paper number 45. But the Feds have bigger guns and a bottomless checkbook. So what can be done?
Most Americans are unaware that juries have plenary authority to rule on both the facts of a case and the justice of the law being applied. Where a manifest injustice would be done by enforcing a supposed law, juries have the right, the authority, and the moral duty, to nullify its application by acquitting the defendant.
The power of jury nullification is one of the most potent weapons we can deploy to take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.