At 16:00 23-10-2002 -0500, Steve Sloan wrote:
But what are the chances of someone be put on trial by a prosecutor who is only looking for publicity, rather than just trying to do his job the best he can? Would his superiors not call him on that? Would it not give the lawyers a better chance to get their client exonerated by pointing out the apparent incompetence of the prosecuter?> 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.
BTW, I know the following probably does not apply to the US, but in my country, even if you heroically save the Queen's life by using a gun you were not supposed to have, you are still going to be prosecuted for illegal possession of a firearm. The sentence would probably not amount to much, given the circumstances, but you will nevertheless be put on trial.
Jeroen "Justice for all" van Baardwijk
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