My Testimony: Fully-Informed Juries

New Hampshire HB1347 states that in all criminal proceedings the court shall instruct the jury of its inherent right to judge the law as well as the facts and to nullify any and all actions they find to be unjust. The court would also be mandated to permit the defendant or counsel for the defendant to explain this right of jury nullification to the jury.

Such "fully-informed jury" bills have come up before the NH House of Representatives every 2 years, for the last 20 years. In 2007, the House Judiciary Committee voted 15-1 against informing juries and of course that bill died.

This year, however, the NH Liberty Alliance raised awareness early, and its members were active! There was a deluge of phone calls and emails to the committee members, pointing out that people should have a right... to know their rights. Those emails clearly influenced some of the committee members.

Many private citizens showed up at the public hearing to testify in favor of the bill (and of course a few bureaucrats, the employees of those private citizens, showed up to testify against the bill). It was one of the longer public hearings I have ever attended.

Here's my testimony, given to the committee on behalf of the NH Liberty Alliance.

Thanks Biker Bill for the footage!