This should have never gotten as far as it did in the first place and now they should hand the bill for defending these frivolous charges straight to that prick of a prosecutor to be paid out of his ass pocket.
Denver judge dismisses charges against jury nullification activists
Case caused legal battles in federal and state court
By Noelle Phillips
The Denver Post
A Denver District Court judge dismissed Wednesday all charges against two men charged with jury tampering after handing out pamphlets in front of the courthouse.
Mark Iannicelli and Eric Brandt were each charged with seven counts of jury tampering. The men, who are regular fixtures in Denver's protest community, in July were distributing jury nullification literature to people entering the courthouse.
Denver District Court Judge Kenneth Plotz ordered the charges to be dropped after a motions hearing.
Their arrests led to a federal civil rights lawsuit where U.S. District Judge William Martinez ruled the pamphlets were protected speech and the men had the right to hand them out on courthouse grounds.
David Lane, the attorney who represented Iannicelli and Brandt in both cases, said the federal judge's ruling helped boost his arguments for having the criminal charges dismissed.
He accused prosecutors in District Attorney Mitch Morrissey's office of overreaching and abusing their power. People have a constitutional right to protest and distribute literature in public places, Lane said.
1 comment:
A friend of mine had jury duty last month he was there 3 hour. He was asked if there was any reason he couldn't be an impartial jurist. he said he told them he understood the constitution and the workings of jury nullification. He was back at work by lunch.
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