Supreme Court Rules Jurors to Decide

In an interesting article published at U.S. News, the United States Supreme Court decided that jurors, not judges, would decide if mandatory minimum sentencing would apply.

 

SCOTUS: Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences in Jury’s Hands

Many mandatory minimum sentences are imposed for drug offenses

 

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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a jury, not a judge, should have the final say on facts that impose mandatory minimum sentences for criminals.

In particular, the 5-4 ruling will make it harder to impose minimum sentences on drug offenders, because they are among the most frequent to receive those sentences. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion. He was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

[READ: ACLU Marijuana Study Finds Blacks More Likely to Be Busted]

“Mandatory minimums for drug offenders will lessen, but it’s difficult to say to what extent,” says Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which opposes mandatory minimum sentences. “It’s also likely that this will have beneficial effects in reducing racial disparity, because so many mandatory minimums are imposed for drug offenses, and because African-Americans in particular are on the receiving end of those penalties.”

Read the rest of the story here –

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/17/supreme-court-ruling-will-make-it-harder-to-impose-mandatory-minimums-on-drug-offenders

 

Jury Nullification Protestor Out Of Jail, Vows To Continue To Hand Out Flyers, Files Federal Lawsuit Against Judge

 

Mark Schmidter is a free man after spending 104 days in the Orange County Jail. He was convicted late last year of indirect criminal contempt by Chief Judge Belvin Perry for handing out flyers at the Orange County Courthouse in the months leading up to and during the Casey Anthony trial. He says his fight over free speech is not over.

Those flyers explained the right of jurors to nullify convictions if they thought the law was wrong, even if a defendant had committed the crime. Schmidter says he will jump right back into the fray now that he has served his time.

To read the entire article, watch news report, click here.