At 21:53 22-10-2002 -0400, John Giorgis wrote: > > > What if the SOB is caught in Maryland by an armed > > > civilian of Virginia that can only legally carry a > > > firearm in his own state?
> > > A mild thought to all of this mess. > > This is the perfect example of why we require trial-by-jury > > in this country. "J. van Baardwijk" wrote: > Why? I see nothing in that scenario that even remotely > suggests that trial by jury is required. For both trials > (one for the Virginian civilian, one for the caught > suspect of the sniper shootings), you only need a > prosecutor, a lawyer to defend the suspect, and a judge. If some trumped-up prosecutor looking for publicity decided to put the civilian on trial for carrying a gun in the wrong state, even though he used the gun to capture the sniper, we have something called jury nullification. If a jury thinks that a prosecution is wrong, they can refuse to convict. It's one of our primary defenses against malicious prosecution, and it acts as another check against evil or wrong-headed laws. ______________________________________________________________________ Steve Sloan ......... Huntsville, Alabama =========> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brin-L list pages ....................... http://www.sloan3d.com/brinl Chmeee's 3D Objects .................... http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee 3D and Drawing Galleries .................. http://www.sloansteady.com Software ................ Science Fiction, Science, and Computer Links Science fiction scans ......................... http://www.sloan3d.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
