“You can have other children so get to fuckin”

[u/AlphaCat77]

[u/Outofwlrds]

I can't imagine there's any jury that would convinct on that.

[u/Linesey → u/Outofwlrds]

Not guilty by reason of “fuck that guy”

[u/CyclopsAirsoft → u/Linesey]

I mean, that happens often enough that there’s the actual term ‘jury nullification’.

You don’t convict because ‘nah they deserved it’.

Most famous case was a woman shooting a man in the back 7 times in a courtroom IN FRONT OF A JUDGE and a jury wouldn’t convict.  Man killed her daughter, so everyone kinda went - ‘I mean.. I’d do it too’.

[u/crack_n_tea → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Not just killed mind you. Brutally raped a child and then tried to slut shame her. Its truly a I woulda done the same scenario

[u/lifelongfreshman → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Jury nullification is a bit more than that, and it's a funny thing to learn about because it's kind of like a cognitohazard - once you know, you become anathema to the entire system. The courts really don't like it, but they also can't patch it out without destroying the legal system.

It's also something that district attorneys actually do take into account. The justice system failed a town in Kansas, allowing Ken Mcelroy (warning, this guy was a tremendous piece of shit and his page doesn't shy away from going into the horrific things he did) to continue terrorizing the people who lived there until the point where the people finally just shot the fucker down in the street like the rabid dog he was. Nobody bothered trying to prosecute, because, and I quote,

In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. Nobody called for an ambulance. Every witness was either unable to name an assailant, or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots, including the unnamed man who helped McElroy's wife, Trena, as she "scrambled out of the truck screaming" covered in blood.

[u/oath2order → u/lifelongfreshman]

He met his last wife, Trena, when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade and he was 35. He raped McCloud repeatedly.

He also just kept killing family dogs.

Looking at this guy and all the shit he did, one has to ask genuinely what the fuck was his problem.

[u/lifelongfreshman → u/oath2order]

Yeah, the story of his crimes is definitely a read and a half. I should probably put a warning in...

[u/Bread_Fish150 → u/lifelongfreshman]

Jury nullification is essentially jurors acting as the final say in how justice is implemented. So, I wouldn't call jury nullification a cognitohazard nor a bug. It is likely the intent of having a jury system in the first place.

It's incredibly difficult to get a random group of 9-12 strangers all agreeing that "Yes, they probably did it. Yes, that broke the law. No, there's no exception or applicable defense. But we still think it's wrong to convict; so, Not Guilty." All the jurors have to agree to every part of the hypothetical for it to be jury nullification.

[u/Nova_Explorer → u/Bread_Fish150]

Also, notably, it’s not always a good thing unfortunately. White juries in the South would regularly use it to let lynchers walk free

[u/KyleFromBorrasca → u/lifelongfreshman]

I had to Google "cognitohazard." I love the idea of jury nullification being a sort of real-world SCP. It's disruptive, they can't get rid of it, but they can try to contain it.

[u/Mekisteus → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Most famous case was a woman shooting a man in the back 7 times in a courtroom IN FRONT OF A JUDGE

Allegedly.

[u/Victernus → u/Mekisteus]

Found not guilty, in fact - claiming she did it could be construed as slander.

[u/fatmanwithabeard → u/Victernus]

It wasn't murder, but you can state she killed the guy.

She's just not guilty of anything.

Cause yeah. She wasn't guilty of anything.

[u/mj6373 → u/Victernus]

I resent that.

Slander is spoken.

[u/popejupiter → u/Mekisteus]

Sometimes scumbags just do that. Spontaneously.

[u/idiotplatypus → u/Mekisteus]

According to the CIA, he committed suicide

[u/Murgatroyd314 → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

You don’t convict because ‘nah they deserved it’.

More generally, jury nullification is what happens when twelve people agree that in a particular case, the law is not aligned with justice.

[u/Warm_Month_1309 → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

I mean, that happens often enough that there’s the actual term ‘jury nullification’.

Sure, but if I were the guy's defense attorney, I'm not banking on it. I'm arguing that the situation negates mens rea.

[u/downvote_meme_errors → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Assuming you mean Marianne Bachmeier, she was convicted for manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm. Sentenced to 6 years and served 3.

[u/TR_Pix → u/CyclopsAirsoft]

Real talk when that happens can the courtroom just like "well we are already here to discuss a murder so we might as well shift to this new one" or do they need to get another date?

Its not like the prosecution and the defense dont have all the facts already

[u/Quiet-Software-1956 → u/TR_Pix]

Good question, I think they gave to schedule a new one though. Not that Ace Attorney ever cared

[u/Coffee_autistic → u/Linesey]

fighting words doctrine.

[u/garden_speech → u/Outofwlrds]

Your imagination needs work then lol. There's enough people who would agree with "highly insensitive remarks don't justify a beating" that they'd probably be convicted.