I don’t think The Canary is Novara Media. And in any case, Novara Media seems to have pretty good reporting and discussions.
Comment on Met police arrest pensioner for ‘jury crime’ already ruled not a crime
FishFace@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Novara media can’t cover this case properly, but it does seem stupid/malicious to arrest her for what she has already done before. Though because it’s Novara media I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some new fact they haven’t mentioned.
But the original case was on a boundary: clearly she and similar protestors wrote their placards with the intention that it would influence jurors to pursue a particular and unlawful course of action. The court found that it did not amount to contempt of court, but it’s hardly obvious. I think if those on Warner’s side here thought about a hypothetical case where Tommy Robinson (found in contempt before) held up a similar side to encourage jurors to acquit those involved in far-right violent protest, or to convict minorities charged of crimes with weak evidence, you might at least think this kind of activity is dodgy if not illegal.
yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
What precisely is the point of a jury if you’re going to constrain how they vote? Of course jury nullification could be bad. And of course it can be good. All legal systems are made up. The whole idea is to allow people — a jury — the freedom to decide for themselves.
FishFace@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
It’s not about complaining about how they vote. The jury doesn’t have complete freedom because that’s the aim; they have complete freedom because there’s no other way to do it and still have a the concept of a jury. They are supposed to follow the directions of the judge in terms of how to apply the law. Telling them, “no actually you don’t have to do that” is definitely dodgy, no matter the technicalities of how they de facto can choose what to do.
yeahiknow3@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Legally speaking, jury nullification is real. Try to absorb this fact.
More importantly, when corruption is the norm, and other democratic avenues have failed, jury nullification isn’t just a legal option, it is the only rational one. Next comes vigilantism.
FishFace@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Nothing I’ve said implies I don’t think it’s real, so I don’t think we have anything else to talk about.