Adam Kokesh is a political prisoner. The government's lucky that a snarky and lazy left 'independent press' (online echo chambers posing as non-print magazines) exists. For over 100 days, he's been held behind bars for making a video. The government's still not indicted him. This despite a police-military style seizure of his neighborhood to arrest him in July. Adam made a video -- somewhere -- at the start of July. The government has alleged it was made in DC and that since Adam had a gun this is a violation of the law. Yeah, it does seem really weak.
Jury nullification is something he discusses in the video above.
Do you hate jury duty? Learn those two words. In January 2005, we wrote about it at The Third Estate Sunday Review "Jury Duty Again! Well maybe not . . ."
Jury nullification exists. The judge doesn't want to tell you nor does the prosecutor. But it exists and goes back to England. It's been used successfully in the US.
On a jury, you're told that you must find someone guilty if the charges are proved.
No, you don't have to.
The late historian Howard Zinn explained in Passionate Declarations:
In America, the principle of jury
nullification was affirmed in 1735 when John Peter Zenger, a New York
printer who was charged with seditious libel for printing material not
authorized by the British mayor, was acquitted by a jury that ignored
the instructions of the judge. The jury followed the advice of the
defense attorney to "see with their own eyes, to hear with their own
ears and to make use of their consciences."
With jury nullification, you can say, "Yes, this happened. But we don't think it's worth finding anyone guilty for." It's most often used in political speech and action cases.
When a jury is being selected, they don't want people who know the law. Writing that you know of or favor jury nullification will get you excused quicker than anything else.
It's recognized, it's legal but they never advise juries of it and they don't want people on the jury who know about it.
Over 100 days in jail and he's still not been indicted?
Adam's a political prisoner. He's also an Iraq War veteran and one who spoke out against the illegal war. The Nation, The Progressive and others have been silent while various airheads of the faux left have mocked him online.
I knew Howard Zinn for many, many years. I didn't like his manipulations at the end but, whatever I might fault him for, he wouldn't have been silent right now.
Matthew Rothschild is a coward and a fake. But he'd be forced to at least publish an article defending Adam if Howard were still alive because Howard wouldn't be silent.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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