I was part of a jury that did such. Pissed off all involved shy of the defendant and amazingly ....the Judge !
She was pleased as punch and even wrote each of us a letter congratulating us on such. It wasn’t a major case, simple traffic court case where “contempt of cop” was the real issue as a speeder was also charged with tailgating. Seems when the cop came up behind the speeder, he turned on his emergency lights to pull the man over. The speeder said he didn’t think he was speeding so he pulled into the middle lane of a three lane freeway to get out of the cops way. In doing so he pulled in behind a vehicle in the middle lane and in the cops words, didn’t leave multiple vehicle lengths of space between the two cars. Thus the added tailgating charge added to speeding.
The defendant stated he accepts the radar speeding ticket but his first comment was he was yielding to an emergency vehicle so he pulled over to the middle lane as fast as he safely could.
In the little traffic court jury room all were ready to accept the cops word as gold. I asked if all noted the “smart ass attitude” of the defendant and they said yes. I asked had anyone driven through a red light after looking both ways to allow an emergency vehicle to pass them and get through the intersection etc ... ? They said yes. Pissed off cop just was piling on due the rude defendant was very clear. Even in the courtroom the cop was clearly still unprofessional and rude in his mannerisms etc ... As was the speeder per my observations.
We stated not guilty yet the prosecutor jumped up claiming nullification. Judge dismissed us to the jury room. We came back and courtroom was empty shy of attorneys , judge and bailiff . Judge and attorneys interviewed each of us with questions and answers sort of one on one...
Judge then called it nullification. I thought we were in trouble. Judge smiled at us said we did a very good job and let us go.
Small event, small case but a lesson learned for me none the less.
Interesting story Squantos, especially that the prosecutor appeared to claim nullification as something illegal, or at least illegitimate, while the judge accepted it as proper, in this case anyway.
Just curious, but what state was this in, as I have never heard of jury trials for traffic offenses?
It’s interesting to hear of personal experiences on juries as I have never served on one. Have been called twice but rejected both times. The first time I’m sure was because I went to school with the prosecutor, but have no idea about the second time.