Volume 1 Number 1 - May 1997
The Jury Rights Project (JRP) was founded in Colorado to defend the 1000-year-old tradition of trial by jury. The JRP is dedicated to educating citizens about the importance of juries and the rights of jurors. The JRP is committed to preserving and enhancing the rights of jurors to be the voice of the community without fear of retribution. Through education, the JRP will empower citizens to defend their 6th Amendment right to trial by jury, which includes the right to serve on a jury as well as the right to be judged by an impartial jury of your peers.
The JRP formed around the case of Laura
Kriho, a Gilpin County juror who was maliciously prosecuted after she was
the lone holdout juror on a drug possession case. Kriho was convicted of
contempt of court, after four months of deliberation by the judge, for
failing to -volunteer- information about her political beliefs and knowledge
of the Constitution during jury
selection.
Kriho's conviction is an unprecedented assault on jury rights and the independence of juries from judges. It has national ramifications for potential jurors and for defendants and plaintiffs seeking a fair and impartial jury. Jurors will now be reluctant to deliberate freely and will fear to vote against the majority lest they be investigated and prosecuted later. A fair trial is impossible if the jurors are serving under the threat of prosecution.
The JRP has been active in promoting awareness of Kriho's case through the Internet. We are ready to develop a corporeal as well as ethereal existence by working on legislation in the state legislators to protect jurors and enhance the jury system.
Update on Laura Kriho case
In March, Laura Kriho was convicted of contempt of court for her service as a juror and fined $1200. She will appeal the decision. The first court in the appeals process is the Colorado Court of Appeals. Kriho's attorney, Paul Grant, is writing the appeal and gathering support from other legal associations to fight the ruling.
The appeal will be filed with the Colorado Court of Appeals this month. Briefs will then be filed over the next several months. If the Court of Appeals does not issue a favorable ruling, a petition will be filed with the Colorado Supreme Court asking them to hear the case, then the U.S. Supreme Court. If Kriho gets a favorable ruling at any lower court, it is likely the State will petition the next higher court to review the decision.
U.S. vs. Thomas
On May 20, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in a case called U.S. v Thomas. The decision strongly denounced jury nullification, calling it "a violation of a juror's sworn duty to follow the law as instructed by the court." Judge Jose Cabranes wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel that "trial courts have a duty to forestall or prevent such conduct," by admonishing or even dismissing jurors from a case.
The decision stemmed from a drug case tried
in Albany in which jurors complained to the judge that one juror, the only
black member of the panel, appeared opposed to applying the drug laws in
the case, believing that the defendants had "a right to deal drugs,"
the opinion said.
After interviewing the jurors, the trial judge concluded that the black
juror felt that the defendants "were in a disadvantaged situation"
and would not vote to convict "no matter what the evidence was."
The judge removed the juror and the 11 remaining jurors voted to convict.
The appellate court actually overturned the convictions, saying that the
juror in this case may truly have been unpersuaded of the defendants' guilt
and that the judge was wrong to conclude that he was disregarding the law.
But the appeals court said the judge was right to investigate the juror's
motivation, and used the case to take a strong stand against nullification.
However, the court ruled that the secrecy of the jury room was of paramount
importance and imposed a high threshold on judges considering whether to
remove a juror accused of disregarding the law. The decision states that
when a presiding judge "receives reports that a deliberating juror
is intent on defying the court's instructions on the law, the judge may
well have no means of investigating the allegation without unduly breaching
the secrecy of deliberations."
"This evidentiary standard protects not only against the wrongful
removal of jurors; it also serves to protect against overly intrusive judicial
inquiries into the substance of the jury's deliberations."
"The secrecy of deliberations is the cornerstone of the modern Anglo-American
jury system."
The decision does not even hint that jurors should be prosecuted, like
Laura Kriho was.
C-SPAN Broadcast on Jury Nullification
On March 31, Paul Grant, Kriho's attorney,
was a panelist in a discussion sponsored by the American Bar Association
titled: "Jury Nullification: A 'Right,' A 'Power,' or an Invitation
to
Anarchy?" The panel was excellent and was broadcast on C-SPAN. Copies
of the tape are available from C-SPAN. Call 1-800-277-2698. Tape ID: 80075
/ Title: Jury Nullification / Length: 2 hrs. 19 min.
Educational materials available:
• Background on the Kriho case. Includes addresses of local newspapers,
Judicial Discipline Board, and Gilpin D.A. Ready to be photo-copied and
re-distributed in your area. (2 pages)
• Gilpin District Judge Henry Nieto's ruling convicting Laura Kriho of
contempt of court (9 pages).
• Jury nullification history by Wash. State Sup. Ct. Justice William Goodloe,
ret. (20 pages).
• Gilpin County Judge Fred Rodgers' article: "The Jury in Revolt?
A 'Heads Up' on the Fully Informed Jury Association", Judges' Journal,
Summer 1996. (5 pages).
Send a legal-sized SASE and $1 or $2 for copying costs (depending on number of pages requested). Indicate which articles you want. Or get the documents fast and free by requesting them by email. Write us if you have a specific request for other information. Or send us information that you think we need to know about. Education, organization, and action can overcome ignorance, oppression, and tyranny.
On the Internet
The JRP sends out frequent updates on the
Internet about jury issues and the Kriho case. To subscribe to our email
list, send email to: jrights@levellers.org
with the word SUBSCRIBE in
the title of the message. (To unsubscribe, use UNSUBSCRIBE). Background
information on the Kriho case and jury issues is available on the World
Wide Web at:
<http://www.fija.org>
<http://www.flash.net/~rcoursey
Browse more of the JRP site
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