KGNU Radio (Boulder, CO)
Morning Magazine August 11, 1998
Provided by KGNU reporter May
Jarrill
Newscaster Dave Gireaud;
Ass't State Attorney General Roger Billotte;
Kriho's Attorney Paul Grant
Three Colorado State Appellate judges sat for a hearing yesterday on the appeal of convicted juror Laura Kriho.The Gilpin County judge in the matter cited Kriho for failure to admit her politicl beliefs and background during the jury selection process. The state Attorney General's office argued against Kriho, saying she should have admitted a prior drug arrest, and her role as an industrial hemp activist. Roger Billotte, Assistant State Attorney General:
"And then we have evidence of her involvement in a Hemp Inititative Project, the letter I believe that she wrote, in connection with that, that appeared in a publication....., she lied about her hobbies and interests, she lists hiking, and camping, reading science fiction, watching the news on television, however the evidence shows that she was extremely active."
Question from the bench: "Would that be enough to support a contempt charge?"
"Yes, for this reason. What it shows is, that she's very active in a group opposed to drug laws, in addition, this group had a connection, if you wanted to know more about jury nullification on the brochure, who do you write to? The Hemp Initiative Project, of which she was an organizer and activist."
The case has brought forward many fundamental issues of the legality of jury nullification, and the responsibiility of potential jurors to bring up information not requested inthe selection phase of the trial. Paul Grant, Kriho's attorney, says the right to an impartial jury does not guarantee the prosecutor the right to hand-pick the jury:
"And in this case, the jury selection process, we would submit, the intent of this prosecution and conviction was to turn jury selection process into a qualification process to eliminate simply any independent-minded juror, anybody who knows the history of jury rights. That cannot be Constitutional. We will bring the Court's attention to the fact that this country was founded on the notion that the right to trial by jury was one of the most fundamental rights, it didn't even need to be in our Constitution, it is there. We fought a revolution, we declared independence, and Thomas Jefferson said in large part it's because of two major problems: they ignored our petitions, and they denied us the right to trial by jury."
The court is not expected to render a verdict until sometime this fall.
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