Jury Nullification: A Constitutional Tool for Defense Attorneys or Anarchy Incarnate?

Controversy follows jury nullification everywhere in criminal law.  The power that a jury has to refuse convicting a defendant, even when the prosecution has provided evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, understandably does not bode well with many judges and prosecutors.  Jurors have the power to nullify because courts cannot overturn a not guilty verdict since this would violate a defendant’s constitutional right to a jury trial.[1]  During O.J. Simpson’s trial, discussion of jury nullification stood at the forefront as Simpson’s defense attorney encouraged the jury to acquit Simpson even if they found him to be guilty so the jury could send a message to the Los Angeles Police Department.[2]  Nullification has also appeared in cases where prosecutors charge abused wives for the murder of their abusive husbands, in cases where minors are involved in drug possession or distribution of narcotics.[3]  The question of nullification appeared in other high profile cases, like the case of former D.C. mayor Marion Barry.  Barry was convicted of only one minor count out of the fourteen charges against him by an African-American jury when he was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine, even though the trial judge in that case commented that the prosecutor has a very strong case against him.[4]

Unlocking A Deadlock

On February 15^th, 2014, news reports announced that a panel of Florida jurors found Michael Dunn guilty on three charges of attempted second-degree murder, and one count of firing a weapon into a vehicle.  These charges stemmed from a November 2012 altercation over loud music between Dunn and four teenagers at a local Jacksonville convenience store that left seventeen year-old Jordan Davis dead.  During the verbal exchange, Dunn saw what he believed to be a weapon.  He brandished a handgun from his car’s glove compartment and fired ten shots, nine of which hit the vehicle containing Tevin Thompson, Leland Brunson, Tommy Stornes, and Jordan Davis.  Of the nine shots that hit the car, three hit Davis.  Officers later discovered that the teenagers were unarmed.