I hung and nullified a jury myself. It was very uncomfortable. At two points I requested the judge to come in and explain to the rest of the jurors I didn’t owe them any explanation for my not guilty verdict. It took the trial out an additional two days and everyone was pissed at me but I was not going to sit in my privilege and give a guy a felony conviction after months of obvious police harassment.
Can you go into more detail on the procedure side of things? So everyone says if the suspect is guilty or not, and if there’s no consensus the jury is hung? How does that lead to nullification?
In my case I made it apparent I wasn’t going to change my position. They spent two days re-debating everything going around the room and whenever they got to me I said I have nothing to add. They would initiate a vote and I would vote not guilty. It went on and on. Sometimes the debates would last for hours, sometimes as quick as thirty minutes. At first it was general thorough discussion and acting flabbergasted that I held the position I held. The next morning they started acting hostile so I asked for the judge to come in and explain to the jury members if I owed them any explanation for my position. Things settled down a little bit but started getting hostile again until we were released for the day fairly late. On the third day (second full day of deliberation) it was very tense. After lunch I asked for the judge to come back in (I was starting to feel a bit unsafe with how hostile some of the jury was getting) and explain again whether I owed them an explanation for my position which he confirmed I did not. Once the judge finished stating that I do not owe anyone an explanation I said something to the effect of “thank you, I have started to feel unsafe for having a different interpretation of events”. I can only assume, since I couldn’t have a conversation with any of the other jurors by this point, but I believe me stating to the judge that I was starting to feel unsafe along with my refusal to waver or engage in any debate beyond “I have nothing to add” and stating I found him not guilty made them realize I was willing to carry deliberation for as many days/weeks required and the judge was having us come in at 9 and releasing us at 7. Everyone in the room signed not guilty around 6-6:30 in the evening that third day of deliberation which was a Friday night. They probably also didn’t want to continue into the next week. I’m not sure though, one of the court security police officers said he would hang out with me so I hung out in front of the courtroom for an hour before going to my car and going home and he said he would watch my path and exit. Some of the jurors were frustrated and pleading. A couple tough guys started teaming up and implying I wasn’t going to get out safely for screwing with their lives in increasingly less subtle undertones. It was very stressful but I just kept reminding myself that nothing that I was going to be dealing with would be anywhere nearly as bad as a BS felony conviction. I hated it, it became a real mob mentality in the jury room fast and got progressively worse.
Thank you, it ended up a lot worse than I expected and the pressure was tough to deal with when trapped in that room. I’m glad I held my ground but it isn’t as easy as it sounds when you’re isolated and everyone is against you.
I hung and nullified a jury myself. It was very uncomfortable. At two points I requested the judge to come in and explain to the rest of the jurors I didn’t owe them any explanation for my not guilty verdict. It took the trial out an additional two days and everyone was pissed at me but I was not going to sit in my privilege and give a guy a felony conviction after months of obvious police harassment.
As a guy who was fucked by the long dick of the law, I appreciate you
Can you go into more detail on the procedure side of things? So everyone says if the suspect is guilty or not, and if there’s no consensus the jury is hung? How does that lead to nullification?
In my case I made it apparent I wasn’t going to change my position. They spent two days re-debating everything going around the room and whenever they got to me I said I have nothing to add. They would initiate a vote and I would vote not guilty. It went on and on. Sometimes the debates would last for hours, sometimes as quick as thirty minutes. At first it was general thorough discussion and acting flabbergasted that I held the position I held. The next morning they started acting hostile so I asked for the judge to come in and explain to the jury members if I owed them any explanation for my position. Things settled down a little bit but started getting hostile again until we were released for the day fairly late. On the third day (second full day of deliberation) it was very tense. After lunch I asked for the judge to come back in (I was starting to feel a bit unsafe with how hostile some of the jury was getting) and explain again whether I owed them an explanation for my position which he confirmed I did not. Once the judge finished stating that I do not owe anyone an explanation I said something to the effect of “thank you, I have started to feel unsafe for having a different interpretation of events”. I can only assume, since I couldn’t have a conversation with any of the other jurors by this point, but I believe me stating to the judge that I was starting to feel unsafe along with my refusal to waver or engage in any debate beyond “I have nothing to add” and stating I found him not guilty made them realize I was willing to carry deliberation for as many days/weeks required and the judge was having us come in at 9 and releasing us at 7. Everyone in the room signed not guilty around 6-6:30 in the evening that third day of deliberation which was a Friday night. They probably also didn’t want to continue into the next week. I’m not sure though, one of the court security police officers said he would hang out with me so I hung out in front of the courtroom for an hour before going to my car and going home and he said he would watch my path and exit. Some of the jurors were frustrated and pleading. A couple tough guys started teaming up and implying I wasn’t going to get out safely for screwing with their lives in increasingly less subtle undertones. It was very stressful but I just kept reminding myself that nothing that I was going to be dealing with would be anywhere nearly as bad as a BS felony conviction. I hated it, it became a real mob mentality in the jury room fast and got progressively worse.
Wow. Wow. Thank you for not giving in. I’d never imagine.
Thank you, it ended up a lot worse than I expected and the pressure was tough to deal with when trapped in that room. I’m glad I held my ground but it isn’t as easy as it sounds when you’re isolated and everyone is against you.
Maybe this doesn’t count as nullifying since the other eleven jurors relented?
That’s what nullifying is. Otherwise the jury is just hung, which can lead to a mistrial / retrial.
Thank you for clarifying, after I wrote it out I was worried I might have mischaracterized myself.