r/hypotheticalsituation • u/Pure_Option_1733 • 12h ago
You’re being interviewed to see if you would be a good fit to serve on a jury for a case in which someone is being charged with breaking a law that you believe is unjust
Depending on what laws you consider unjust and what is illegal where you live the charges the defendant is facing could be just about anything. For instance the defendant might be facing criminal charges for possessing weed, or the defendant might be someone who stole medicine that they couldn’t afford in order to save a loved one, or the defendant might be a doctor who performed an abortion in a place where abortions are banned, or the defendant might be charged with breaking another law that you think is unjust.
During the time that the trial is set for you don’t have any plans, and if you don’t tell the person interviewing you that you think that the law the defendant is being charged with breaking is unjust then they will have no way of knowing. You also have no association with the defendant nor the prosecution, and you’ve never been in the defendants shoes nor have you been in the shoes of the one pressing charges.
Do you tell the person who’s interviewing you that you believe that the law the defendant is being charged with breaking is unjust in order to get out of jury duty or do you keep your mouth shut in order to try to interfere with the law being enforced through sentencing?
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u/Z3ppelinDude93 11h ago
I feel like there’s a lot of people who are asking themselves this question right now… especially if they live in NYC…
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u/TacoBear207 11h ago
I would probably keep quiet until I was selected for the trial, but there are other reasons I probably wouldn't be. If I were selected, I would educate my fellow jurors about Jury Nullification.
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u/MinutesTilMidnight 11h ago
I think if you tell other jurors about nullification and get caught, the prosecution can ask for a mistrial and retry the case.
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u/drrjaster 11h ago
Not directly because of telling them about this. It's like talking about a union, they have to use another reason technically. Jury nullification is public knowledge and a part of the system so a mistrial because of it would actually be a crime.
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u/MinutesTilMidnight 10h ago
No? It’s a mistrial because believing they did it and voting not guilty anyway means you’re not following the law, you’re not impartial. Jury nullification is allowed for many reasons, two of which being that it’s difficult to enforce and prove (how do you prove someone doesn’t genuinely believe the defendant is innocent?), and it’d discourage people from doing jury duty (why would anyone want to do jury duty if they knew they could be punished for voting "wrong"?).
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u/drrjaster 10h ago
Yep. I fell for a false articles and sites. You are right once I read more. Sucks to be me. But as you said they can't prove so it's a deny it when accused and they can't prove a mistrial is necessary but might still happen.
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u/MinutesTilMidnight 10h ago
Yes I agree. Jury nullification by one person usually leads to a mistrial anyway, but if two+ mistrials happen, the defendant is unlikely to be retried because the trials are wasting resources on someone juries won’t convict.
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u/FitzchivalryandMolly 7h ago
Even if you don't tell them you can force a hung jury and the prosecution is in the same position
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u/Loki_the_Corgi 11h ago edited 11h ago
I'm not volunteering information.
I won't outright lie if asked directly, but they would need to ask the right question in the right words for me to divulge that information.
I recall reading myths and legends about the Fae when I was younger. One of the things that stuck with me was that they don't lie, but they'll have you convinced the sky is green.
To add: there's no way am I actually going to send anyone to jail for terminating a pregnancy, and I'm willing to use myself to stack the deck in that person's favor.
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u/Outrageous_Dream_741 10h ago
I don't have to tell them anything about whether I feel the law is unjust. I have a juris doctorate and they're extremely unlikely to pick me regardless.
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u/Orallover1960 11h ago
My answer is niether. You assume that I won't still vote guilty even though I think the law is unjust. If the evidence shows the defendant broke the law I would vote guilty, if not I vote not guilty.
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u/AVeryNiceBoyPerhaps 9h ago
why? an unjust law is no law at all. That’s why we have ethics and morals.
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u/MonkeyCome 7h ago
Why? Because it’s your civil duty as a jury member to make decisions based on the law, not your personal beliefs. Imagine if a juror thought rape was an unjust law, should we let a rapist go because one juror decided it shouldn’t be illegal so they’ll vote not guilty?
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u/AVeryNiceBoyPerhaps 2h ago
That is kind of how juries work, you don’t have to justify your decision - you’ve a right to vote not guilty or guilty regardless of the reasoning
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u/Orallover1960 9h ago
If I was knowledgeable in law I would work to get the law changed. Until then I would uphold the law.
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u/DenverZeppo 55m ago
I want to encourage you to really look inward as you think this. I'm not in any way saying your belief system coincides with a certain group of people from the southern states in the 1840s or a certain group of people from former Germanic tribes in the 1940s, but when we say "the law is the law" and we just enforce that law without allowing our own moral compass to guide us, we get the southern states in the 1840s and the Germany of the 1940s.
We owe it to ourselves to examine those laws under the guise of what we believe, and we owe it to our country. "I was following the law" is not an excuse that history looks kindly upon, especially in times like these.
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u/Gregshead 11h ago
I was once called for jury duty. Child rape case. They asked if the defendant was found guilty if I'd be open to any and all potential punishments ranging from nothing to 12 years in jail. I said no. There's no way I'm letting a guilty child rapist off with no jail time. I don't know what my minimum would've been, but I know "nothing" was unacceptable. I was asked to leave.
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u/ButtonholePhotophile 11h ago
If they ask, I’ll tell. There are a lot of unjust laws. They’re still our laws.
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u/AutoModerator 12h ago
Copy of the original post in case of edits: Depending on what laws you consider unjust and what is illegal where you live the charges the defendant is facing could be just about anything. For instance the defendant might be facing criminal charges for possessing weed, or the defendant might be someone who stole medicine that they couldn’t afford in order to save a loved one, or the defendant might be a doctor who performed an abortion in a place where abortions are banned, or the defendant might be charged with breaking another law that you think is unjust.
During the time that the trial is set for you don’t have any plans, and if you don’t tell the person interviewing you that you think that the law the defendant is being charged with breaking is unjust then they will have no way of knowing. You also have no association with the defendant nor the prosecution, and you’ve never been in the defendants shoes nor have you been in the shoes of the one pressing charges.
Do you tell the person who’s interviewing you that you believe that the law the defendant is being charged with breaking is unjust in order to get out of jury duty or do you keep your mouth shut in order to try to interfere with the law being enforced through sentencing?
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/GnomieOk4136 11h ago
I doubt they would ask. If they did, I wouldn't lie, but I would not volunteer the information.
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u/Slam-JamSam 10h ago
So they’re giving me the power of jury nullification? Why would I give that up?
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u/usernamerandomness 10h ago
I wouldn't outright lie and I would not volunteer that I know what jury nullification is.
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u/Septemvile 7h ago
I'm not volunteering anything.
It doesn't matter what the trial is or what it's about. Unless the government enacts a total and complete silence on all facts of the case, something gets out. I have no obligation either way in terms of the trial.
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u/LoopyMercutio 6h ago
I’d be honest about it. And everything else in my past. And I’d get dismissed from jury duty, same as always.
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u/MillieBirdie 6h ago
I'm not going to lie if they ask but I'm not going to volunteer that if they don't. It's their job to ask the questions.
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u/mothhair 1h ago
Hmm, I definitely wouldn't lie, but I probably would not volunteer the information either.
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u/AutomaticMonk 11h ago
If they don't specifically ask, I wouldn't say anything. But, just because I don't agree with a law doesn't make it legal. If they committed the crime, I'd vote guilty.
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u/taekee 11h ago
I do not agree with some laws, but mu belief on a jury is not a out my belief, but my belief in the facts of the case as it applies to the laws. Consequences... I do n0t believe we should be limited to 60mph on any I yerstaye, or even 70...but there are consequences fo speeding.
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u/AVeryNiceBoyPerhaps 9h ago
Right, but that doesn’t apply to immorality. If tomorrow homosexuality was made illegal, punishable by death, would you vote to convict someone of that crime?
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u/AbbreviationsIcy7432 11h ago
I would say nothing and then argue for jury nullification without using those words.
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u/Pawn_of_the_Void 11h ago
I won't outright lie but I am not going to volunteer this information if they don't ask for it. I'm not legally obligated to if they fail to ask the right questions after all