Summary
Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is set to appear in a New York courtroom Friday for a hearing on evidence exchange and a potential trial date.
He faces state murder charges with a terrorism enhancement, carrying a life sentence without parole.
Mangione also faces federal charges, including one with a potential death penalty, and separate charges in Pennsylvania. His defense claims political bias in the case.
In a statement, Mangione thanked supporters for their letters from across the country and the world.
It’s totally allowed. It’s why citizen juries exist instead of professional jurors, and a jury’s right to determine the law is established in Article I, Section 8 of the New York Constitution. It’s specifically discussing libel cases, but that doesn’t necessarily limit them.
You still shouldn’t say it, because you’ll be removed anyway, but jury nullification is the legal system’s last line of defense against unjust just laws.
Its “allowed” in the sense that you can return a verdict of innocent without providing an explanation for why you found him innocent, and the court is not allowed to issue a verdict notwithstanding the jury in criminal cases. It’s perfectly legal for the court to dismiss you as a juror if you announce your intention to nullify at any point in the trial or explain that your intention is to nullify when you announce your verdict. So if you intend to nullify, you should stay quiet about it until you finish deliberating.
Source: I’m a law student and we just covered this in Criminal Law.
They can also dismiss you for saying you intend to declare guilt no matter what.
A juror deciding a verdict before hearing the case should be dismissed.
Do you think enough people will learn of this in time for the jury selection, in theory?
Historically, how often has this happened?
Can nods or other physical gestures count as an intent to nullify the process? Like a fresh tattoo of the green super mario bro. There’s plausible deniability there, right?
Sorry for all the questions, I’m just sick of talking to chatbots. I crave answers from human beings. I don’t want a chatbot’s heartless, supposedly unbiased answer. Throw in as much bias as you’d like.