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Lots of people do exactly that when it comes to pot. Are you an ex-cop?
Nope, just a law abiding citizen who believes that we are either a nation of laws or a nation of men who become more equal the more power they hold. The justice system is supposed to be blind is it not? When the average citizen juror fails to be lawfully objective the system has no hope and no way to successfully be "just". YMMV.
People aren't robots. We have minds of our own, and it's clear that some laws need to be changed.
Would you have defended a white slave owner for beating his black slaves when slavery was legal?
I would have felt sorry for that guy you asked about. I guess you don't know that not too many slaver owners were stupid enough to beat their slaves unless they needed to make an object for the others. Beating them would be like a farmer that takes a two by four board to his prize bull who he uses to impregnate his cattle. Stupidity just doesn't sound too real to me.
I see that you think you got Mogal with that post but I think you didn't do anything but tell her that you think you would vote against existing laws because you think they need to be changed. That sounds too much like activist judges thinking they need to change laws.
When prosecutors try someone based on the fact that they killed their husband, does the defense not often say "well he was abusive" thus justifying the act of murder?
If the guy got up and said he was selling pot because he finds it a drug with medicinal benefits, and he doesn't understand why its illegal, then I'd find that justification enough for breaking the law.
And I would tell the judge that upfront, which would mean the prosecution wouldn't take me as a juror.
At least you are honest enough to find your way out of that jury. I think that some of the other commenters here would fail to get excused because they think Mary Jane should be legal and they don't agree with the law as it stands. That is kind of like legislating from the bench only it would be from the jury box.
But breaking the law under specific circumstances is a perfectly acceptable defense in our country.
People do it everyday "I was speeding, but my wife was in labor"
"I killed my husband, but he was beating me"
"I did steal that loaf of bread, but my family was hungry"
I'm a legal citizen, my opinion is free to me, and I find the fact that someone who was convicted of a non violent crime that hurt no one is a fact that can't be ignored.
I think that jurors take an oath to go by the law and apply it to the case. Am I wrong?
Nope, just a law abiding citizen who believes that we are either a nation of laws or a nation of men who become more equal the more power they hold. The justice system is supposed to be blind is it not? When the average citizen juror fails to be lawfully objective the system has no hope and no way to successfully be "just". YMMV.
You have to understand that some people think they have a right to play the game according to how they feel and to hell with the law. From reading on this thread it seems to me that most of those who think that way are of the left leaning variety, too.
Really, with plenty of evidence you wouldn't convict international drug traffickers? That speaks loudly to character that you would follow your belief system as a juror rather than the actual law.
I think that jurors take an oath to go by the law and apply it to the case. Am I wrong?
I think the jurors are the only ones that hear all of the evidence, and none of us who are or aren't on it shouldn't make judgements on what they decide.
Wonder who from MSNBC will be reporting that story? Doubt it will be Matthews.
Maybe Sister Madcow will do the story?
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