Jury Nullification
“You . . . police the Police. You police them by your verdict. You are the ones to send the message. Nobody else is going to do it in this society. You . . . are the ones in war; you are the ones on the front line” Johnnie Cochran, 1995 O.J. Simpson trial, on jury nullification Jury nullification refers to a jury’s decision to return a verdict of “not guilty” even when the jury believes that the defendant is guilty of the criminal charges. In essence, the jury “nullifies” a law that it does not want to apply to the defendant, either because the jury ...
