If there is any aspect of the use of juries in the common law system that confuses non-common law students, it is the concept of jury nullification. How can it be, ask many students, that the jury can simply ignore the law? Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor weighed in on the topic. Reason.com reports that the Justice had "kind words" for jury nullification, albeit measured words, when she was asked about a recent federal court case where the judge dismissed a juror who apparently could not bring himself to voting to convict suspected drug dealers:
"In United States v. Thomas, the 2nd Circuit heard a challenge to a judge's dismissal of a juror in a federal drug case who resisted finding the five defendants, all of whom were black, guilty of selling crack. After interviewing the jurors, the judge concluded that the holdout, who was the only black member of the jury, had "immoral" motives because "he believes that these folks have a right to deal drugs, because they don't have any money, they are in a disadvantaged situation and probably that's the thing to do." The judge added that "I don't think he would convict them no matter what the evidence was."
The 2nd Circuit rejected the juror's dismissal, saying the judge did not give sufficient consideration to alternative explanations for his resistance. But it also said the dismissal clearly would have been justified if the juror was in fact determined to acquit the defendants regardless of the evidence. "As an obvious violation of a juror's oath and duty," the court said, "a refusal to apply the law as set forth by the court constitutes grounds for dismissal."Perhaps the most interesting part of this is the fact that the federal appeals court also seems to be saying that jury nullification has no place in American federal courts. And here is where Justice Sotomayor seems to come out in favor of jury nullification, noting that the court of appeals probably got the case wrong. The short story here is jury nullification exists, but most judges certainly do not like it and some even believe its use is prohibited.
