Denver Post: Juror in '96 drug case cleared of contempt (8/11/00)

http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0811k.htm

Denver Post
August 11, 2000

Juror in '96 drug case cleared of contempt
By George Lane, Denver Post Staff Writer

Feedback: letters@denverpost.com

Aug. 11, 2000 - All charges have been dismissed against a former Gilpin County juror who was found in contempt of court in 1997. She had failed to reveal during jury selection for a drug trial that she had been arrested for LSD possession and that she was politically active in the effort to legalize marijuana.

Laura Kriho was the lone juror to hold out for acquittal in a 1996 trial of a 19-year-old woman charged with possession of methamphetamine. She had not told court officials about an arrest in 1984 for LSD possession, a deferred judgment in that case and her involvement with the Colorado Hemp Initiative Project.

The judge declared a mistrial after another juror informed him that Kriho
had talked to fellow jurors about nullification - a juror's right to ignore the facts in a case and issue a verdict based on the morality and validity of the law.

Kriho, now 36, was fined $1,200 for obstructing justice by failing to admit her political beliefs and background during jury selection.

In arguing against that action, Kriho's attorney, Paul Grant, noted that she was never asked about her beliefs during the jury selection process and that the court had invented a new crime - "not willfully disclosing something."

"It's a new name for perjury," he said at the time.

In April 1999, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed Kriho's contempt-of-court conviction.

"The Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court had improperly invaded the secrecy of the jury room by allowing testimony from other jurors about jury room deliberations," according to a statement released by Grant.

Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar appealed that ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court, but the state's highest court refused to consider the case.
After rejection by the Supreme Court, prosecutors had one remaining option: retry Kriho for not revealing her 12-year-old deferred judgment for the LSD arrest. However, District Attorney Dave Thomas decided against another trial and filed a motion with the court for the case to be
dismissed.

District Judge Thomas Woodford granted the motion Aug. 4, and Grant
received notice this week.

"This ends it forever," the defense attorney said Thursday.

"I am so glad this is finally over," Kriho said in the statement released by Grant. "I hope that by fighting and winning against this persecution that I have helped protect other jurors from going through what I did.

"The jury is meant to be the conscience of the community," the statement
said. "Jurors should be free to deliberate and to vote however they deem fit, without fear of later prosecution if they vote against the government's case."

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