Pubdate: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 Source: Trentonian, The (NJ) Column: Passing the Joint Copyright: 2014 The Trentonian Contact: http://www.trentonian.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006 Author: NJ Weedman Page: A5 UTILIZE JURY NULLIFICATION TO MAKE AMERICA FREE AGAIN By design of the founders of America, U.S. citizens are the final arbiters of our nation's laws via our jury system. I don't think the founding fathers could have envisioned "America the free" becoming "America the prison country." I was jailed for saying that in 2002 - we have political prisoners in America too. The incarceration rate in America is the highest in the world: As of October 2013, it was 716 individuals per 100,000 citizens of the national population. The United States represents about 5 percent of the world's population, but it's a fact that it houses around 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We also pass more laws than any other country. Infamously gridlocked by partisan politics, Congress passed fewer than 60 laws last year that made it through the House and Senate and were signed by the president. But across the country, state lawmakers were busy getting more than 40,000 bills passed - ones that tackle everything from drones to food stamp benefits. OMG. What have I smoked? I'm about to agree with the NRA on a case! The NRA to me is a slightly different version of the KKK - we will talk about that in another column. There is no way for citizens to know when or how they've violated one of the millions of laws on our nation's books. Take the case of Shaneen Allen, 27, of South Philadelphia. Last July she was dragged into an alley off South Street and robbed of her pocketbook containing some makeup, a $20 bill, and a SEPTA Trans-Pass, but she said the encounter could have cost her her life. So she obtained a Pennsylvania license-to-carry permit and legally purchased a .380 gun with two safeties and a trigger lock. She signed up for lessons at a local gun range. She thought she was legal. Then she made one mistake: She brought the gun to New Jersey. And now she has a new fear - a three-to-five year prison sentence. (Personally, I think if this scenario were to play out again a robber would also get a new gun in addition to another pocketbook.) On October 1, 2013, as Shaneen headed to Atlantic City a New Jersey State Police trooper pulled her over for an alleged unsafe lane change violation. What she didn't know: New Jersey has some of the nation's strictest gun-control laws. It also doesn't recognize carry permits from other states - something Allen said she didn't realize. "I thought it was like a driver's license. I didn't know," Allen said. She spent 45 days in jail so far and now awaits trial. As a first-time offender she applied for NJ PTI - the state's PreTrial Intervention program. The pre-trial intervention director gave her a favorable recommendation but the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office rejected her application, citing "a need to deter others." I say Ms. Allen should "deter" the prosecutor from prosecuting cases like this by taking the case to trial and encouraging her jury to nullify the law. She should represent herself and speak directly to the "citizen members of her jury" in her opening and closing statements. She should explain to the jury how the NJ laws are wrong or being misapplied to her. She should encourage them to nullify the law she's charged with violating simply by returning a "not guilty" verdict. A "not guilty verdict" would "deter" other prosecutors from persecuting others in similar circumstances. Jury nullification occurs in a trial when a jury acquits a defendant, even though the members of the jury believe the defendant is guilty of the charges. This may occur when jury members disagree with the law the defendant is charged with breaking or believe the law should not be applied in that particular case. This is what happened to me on October 18, 2012. I was absolutely guilty of bringing a pound of marijuana from California, where it was also legal for me to have, on 4/1/2010. I too brought my legal product to New Jersey where it wasn't legal. I too was arrested by a State Trooper (also alleging a traffic violation). In NJ simply for having more than 50 grams you're charged with distribution, which is punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Yet my jurors found me "not guilty" despite my obvious violation of this law. I would be in prison for nearly 2 years now had Michael Luciano, the assistant Burlington County Prosecutor, gotten his way. This can be done to Nullify any of the 1 million laws that have been enacted against "We the People," to make America the prison capital of the world. To read my Jury Nullification Defense Guide: http://www.njweedman.com/CPU_JN_guide.htm - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom