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Jury Nullification Advocate Is Indicted For Legal Act
Mr. Julian Heicklen, a retired Pennsylvania State University chemistry professor, has been indicted by federal prosecutors on a charge that his distributing of pamphlets advocating the right of jury nullification and that jurors should vote their conscience violates the law against jury tampering.He was arraigned on Friday in a hearing before federal magistrate Judge Kimba M. Wood, who entered a not guilty plea on his behalf when he refused to say how he would plead. Mr. Heicklen insists that he never tries to influence specific jurors or cases, and instead gives his brochures to passers-by, hoping that jurors are among them. Prosecutors declined to comment on his case, as did Sabrina Shroff, a lawyer who was assigned to assist Mr. Heicklen. (He is acting as his own lawyer.) Mr. Heicklen also distributes information from the Fully Informed Jury Association, which urges jurors to nullify laws with which they disagree. I dont want them to nullify the murder laws, he said. Im a big law-and-order guy when it comes to real crime. This is classic political advocacy, Christopher T. Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said referring to Mr. Heicklens pamphleteering. Unless the government can show that hes singling out jurors to influence a specific verdict, its squarely protected by the First Amendment, and they should dismiss the case. Court records show that before Mr. Heicklens indictment last fall, Mr. Heicklen has been cited at least six times since October 2009 for distributing fliers without a permit at the entrance of the Manhattan federal courthouse. But the violations, which carry fines, do not depend on the content of his message. If convicted of the jury tampering charge, he could face a six-month sentence. In court Friday, Judge Wood noted that because he was charged with a misdemeanor, she said, he was not entitled to a jury trial. Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-02-25 |
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