What does “Jury Nullification” mean?

1.13K views

I’ve bee watching the Brooks vs state trial, and before he makes his closing argument, the judge tells him NOT to inform the jury of their power to nullify the law.

In: 20

30 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A good example where jury nullification might have been a valid tactic is the case of [Ken McElroy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy)

McElroy was essentially the town bully, and vicious one at that. He apparently engaged in witness intimidation, and was never convicted on 20 cases for child abuse, cattle rustling, and theft. He was finally convicted of attempted murder after shooting the elderly town grocer, and continued to harass the populace while he appealed his conviction, coming into a bar with an M1 rifle and stating he may still kill the grocer.

The next day McElroy was shot in broad daylight on Main Street with two different weapons firing the shot in front of 30-40 witnesses. None of the townspeople came forward to say they saw who did it, the community was glad to be rid of McElroy.

Suppose a shooter was caught and put on trial for murdering McElroy. The jury might vote not guilty to use nullification as a way to say “Nah, we’re fine with the end result here. What’cha bringing to the potluck Sunday night?”

Another case where nullification might be used is suppose an underage couple 15.5F and 13M has consensual sex, and the girl’s father gets p.o.’ed, is an influential person around the town, and pushes the DA to pursue the guy for statutory rape. The jury, recognizing that the girl isn’t being equally charged when as the older one was probably more of the instigator of the act, might feel that the prosecution is unfair, and vote not guilty despite the evidence as a nullification to an unjust prosecution.

You are viewing 1 out of 30 answers, click here to view all answers.