Walter In Denver

'Jury Nullification' Takes a Strange Turn

Mark Paschall, ex of the state lege and now Treasurer of Jefferson County, Colorado, has been handing out pamphets to potential jurors. The pamphlets explain the concept of jury nullification, but with an unusual slant. I'll let the Denver Post explain, from an article titled 'Official advises jurors on God's law.'

The pocket-sized booklets promote "jury nullification," a concept built upon since 1989 by politically conservative groups that argue juries have the right to not only decide guilt or innocence, but also whether laws are just and adhere to God's law.

"YOU ARE ABOVE THE LAW!" the booklet says. "As a JUROR in a trial setting, when it comes to your individual vote of innocent or guilty, you truly are answerable only to GOD ALMIGHTY."

This is innacurate, as the jury nullification movement is not a religion-based effort. In fact, the people I know who favor jury nullification are often agnostics or atheists. I was so surprised by the tone of the Post's article that I first suspected it was written with a bias against nullification so strong that the article was grossly slanted. So I searched for a copy of the pamphlet online, and read it myself. Sadly, the Post article is right on the money when it comes to the literature Paschall was distributing. Read the thing for yourself. Talkleft has more.

Mr. Paschall, you once stood before a roomfull of Libertarians and asked us to refrain from running candidates against sympathetic Republicans, including yourself in that number. I was present in that room. Now I don't think you understand Libertarians at all.

Most importantly, I wish you'd stop corrupting religion by mixing it with politics.

Posted by Walter at October 1, 2003 09:48 PM