Retired Prof Indicted for Handing Out Jury Nullification Pamphlets Near Federal Courthouse
Since 2009, Julian Heicklen has been handing out material urging prospective jurors to vote their conscience at various courthouses. He says he often holds a “Jury Info” sign to help connect him to the right people, but has never sought to influence any specific case.
Now the retired chemistry professor has been federally indicted in Manhattan for tampering, amidst a growing controversy, there and elsewhere, about the extent to which jurors should be informed of the right they have traditionally held to ignore the law and decide a case as they see fit, reports the New York Times.
While such jury nullification of the instructions the panel is given in court has long been recognized in constitutional law classes as an occasional force driving runaway verdicts, it has been viewed as a rare and spontaneous event rather than something jurors are told they have the power to do.
Thus, while Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union calls Heicklen’s pamphleteering “classic political advocacy” that is “squarely protected by the First Amendment”—assuming he is not trying to influence a particular jury—a former prosecutor sees the situation a bit differently.
“The government has to walk a fine First Amendment line bringing these charges,” says Daniel Richman, who is now a Columbia University law professor, “but lawless jury behavior is certainly of concern to it, too.”
Heicklen, who lives in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, tells the Times he doesn’t want jurors to nullify what he calls “real crime.” However, he believes drug and gambling laws can be appropriate targets for jury nullification.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Nonprofit Considers Suit re Judge’s Ban on Jury ‘Education’ Material Outside Courthouses”
