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.
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Jury nullification is when a jury finds for “not guilty” even though they know that the defendant is actually guilty. The jury can essentially nullify the law and find for whatever they want.
For example if the father of a raped child kills the child rapist and end up in court for murder the jury might sympathise with the defendant enough to say that actually he did not do the murder at all even with clear evidence. Nobody is allowed to challenge the jury in their verdicts so when they say the father is not guilty he have to be released.
There is however a possibility of a mistrial. If someone explains jury nullification to the jury members then this could be jury tampering, contempt of court and make the jury members unable to stand as jury members. So even though it can be a very powerful defence the lawyer can not openly go for this defence.
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