From the Radio Free Michigan archives



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The refusal of juries to convict figured prominently in the repeal of 

alcohol prohibition.  Faced with gun prohibition, it behooves us to 

understand the _real_ powers of juries to judge the law as well as the 

facts in a case (despite patently incorrect instructions to juries by 

judges).



  *************************************************************************

  * Edgar A. Suter, MD                                      suter@crl.com *

  * Chair, DIRPP        Doctors for Integrity in Research & Public Policy *

  *************************************************************************





This is a letter explaining the FIJA bill before the Washington State 

Legislature and what you can do to help. This message is divided into 

three sections.

 

SECTION 1: WHAT IS FIJA

SECTION 2: WHAT CAN YOU DO

SECTION 3: SECTION 3:FIJA BILL 4205 WORDING

 

SECTION 1: WHAT IS FIJA

	A. The FIJA Bill: permits attorneys to tell the jury of their 

inherent right, in addition to their responsibility to decide whether the 

defendant has broken the law or caused damage, to judge the law itself. 

This means if a particular law is unjust , unconstitutional or simply 

misapplied they may vote not guilty and acquit the defendant even if you 

think the defendant committed the act." FIJA doesn't give the jury any 

more rights, it just permits them to be told of the ones they now have.

 

	B. Historical Background: The Royal Governor of New York colony, 

while we were still part of England, had a law passed against publishing 

information about his corruption. John Peter Zenger printed materials 

critical to the governor and his friends, and was arrested. Andrew 

Hamilton, Zenger's attorney, argued to the jurors that they were judges 

of the merits of the law and should not go against good conscience by 

convicting Zenger of violating such a bad law. He was acquitted.

 

The Supreme Court, in 1895, said it was up to the judge to decide whether 

the jury would be told of this right unless the state had a statute or 

constitution that provided other wise. They did this in an effort to stop 

labor union organizers from being freed by juries that thought it was 

wrong to pass laws against workers forming unions.

 

The Supreme Court did not say the jury could not judge the law as well as 

fact.

 

We still have the right to do this today as we have no punishment for 

jurors that bring in verdicts different than what the judge wants. The 

judge may even tell the jury that the judge is the only one to decide the 

law but this is not correct as there is no penalty for a juror that 

follows his or her conscience nor are they required to explain their 

decision.

 

	C. The Problem: Anyone involved in a jury trial deserves jurors 

that bear full responsibility for deciding on a just verdict. The 

defendant has a right to a full and fair hearing which depends upon the 

jury knowing all its rights and responsibilities. Lawyers are not now 

permitted to tell them about these rights unless the court gives its 

approval. This has resulted in a whole generation of people that do not 

know what they can do on a jury.

 

Instead we have jury's that are bringing in verdicts and then apologizing 

to the defendant because they knew it was a bad decision but they did not 

know they could vote not guilty if it was an unconstitutional law or 

didn't apply.

 

We have people being put through the grinder by laws that should not be 

used against them. Laws that were meant to counter serious crime are 

being used to destroy people who are basically innocent or only guilty of 

minor infractions. One reason we have a jury is to keep the laws from 

being applied incorrectly.

 

Freedom means a lot to me and I believe it means the same to you but 

almost every day we lose another little bit of it. Like grains of sand 

going through an hourglass, each grain is almost unnoticed but after a 

while it is all gone.

 

	D. What it doesn't do: Jurors may do no more than find the 

defendant guilty as charged so they cannot invent laws that the defendant 

is guilty of committing. If a jury brings back a not guilty verdict then 

only the defendant under trial is released and the law still remains in 

force.

 

 

SECTION 2: WHAT CAN YOU DO

	A. Call or write your Washington State Representative or Senator 

and ask her or him to support FIJA. Please email me or send me a letter 

and let me know what they said. My email address is clae@eznet.com and my 

regular mail address is FIJA, POB 141774, Spokane, WA 99214.

 

	B. If you have a list of Senators and Representatives with 

addresses and phone numbers (FAX numbers) etc. please send them to me by 

email, see above for address. Representative Steve Fuhrman submitted this 

bill. Please call him at 1-360-786-7908 and thank him for all he has done 

for us. His address is Room 412, Legislative Building, Olympia, WA 

98504(The old area code is 206 but both are supposed to work for a few 

months). 

 

	C. If you have any email addresses, regular address, or phone 

numbers of groups or people that you think might be interested please 

send them to me. I do not subscribe to very many groups because of time 

constraints so send them to me directly. Please mark email as FIJA in the 

subject column.

 

	D. This is a Washington State Constitutional Amendment so it 

first has to be passed by two-thirds of the legislature and it then goes 

for a vote of the people. We are in for a long hard fight. If we are 

going to win it we must start building a war chest now. Please send 

checks or credit card donations to FIJA, POB 141774, Spokane, WA 99214. 

If possible, please sign up for a monthly credit card donation. It will 

automatically be added to your credit card bill each month. Even small 

donations will add up to a winning amount.

 

 

SECTION 3:FIJA BILL 4205 WORDING

	BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 

STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:

	THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state there 

shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state for their 

approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article IV, 

section 16 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:

 

	Article IV, section 16. (1) Judges shall not charge juries with 

respect to matters of fact, nor comment thereon, but shall declare the 

law, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section.

	(2) An accused or aggrieved party's right to trial by jury, in 

all instances where the government or any of its agencies is an opposing 

party, includes the right to inform the jurors of their power to judge 

the law as well as the evidence, and to vote on the verdict according to 

conscience.

	This right shall not be infringed by any statute, juror oath, 

court order or procedure or practice of the court, including the use of 

any method of jury selection that could preclude or limit the empanelment 

of jurors willing to exercise this power. This right shall not be 

infringed by preventing any party to the trial, once the jurors have been 

informed of their powers, from presenting arguments to the jury that may 

pertain to issues of law and conscience, including (a) the merit, intent, 

constitutionality, or applicability of the law in the instant case: (b) 

the motives, moral perspective, or circumstances of the accused or 

aggrieved party: (c) the degree and direction of guilt or actual harm 

done: or (d) the sanctions that may be applied to the losing party.

	Failure to allow the accused or aggrieved party or counsel for 

that party to so inform the jury shall be grounds for mistrial and 

another trial by jury.

 

	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause 

notice of the foregoing constitutional amendment to be published at least 

four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every 

legal newspaper in the state.

 

 

Thank you for considering this measure and for your time.

 

		In Freedom,

		Steven C. Jayne

		email clae@eznet.com

		Please mark email as FIJA in the subject column.

		regular mail POB 141774,

		                   Spokane, WA

		                   99214-1774

 





 

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