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
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom