03/26/2014 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY

                   HB 315-JURY NULLIFICATION                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                              
1:51:47 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  KELLER announced  that  the final  order  of business  was                                                               
HOUSE  BILL NO.  315,  "An  Act relating  to  juries in  criminal                                                               
cases; and  providing for an  effective date."   He said  he will                                                               
not rush  this bill,  but there  is no time  for questions.   The                                                               
discussion will continue at a future date.                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
1:52:26 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE TAMMI  WILSON, Alaska  State Legislature,  said HB
  relates  to jury  nullification.    She made  the  following                                                               
statement:                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
    Before   one   is   able   to   understand   why   jury                                                                     
     nullification is a good idea, one must understand the                                                                      
     importance  of a  trial by  jury. Our  Founding Fathers                                                                    
     considered  them to  be a  powerful weapon  in the  war                                                                    
     against  tyranny. Thomas  Jefferson wrote,  "I consider                                                                    
     trial by jury  as the only anchor yet  imagined by man,                                                                    
     by which a government can  be held to the principles of                                                                    
     its constitution." In  the Federalist Papers, Alexander                                                                  
     Hamilton  wrote  that  trial  by  jury  was  the  "very                                                                    
     palladium  of free  government" and  a "valuable  check                                                                    
     upon corruption."                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
     As for the concept that  juries have not only the power                                                                    
     but  the  obligation to  nullify  unjust  rulings of  a                                                                    
     judge, John  Adams wrote, "It  is not only  the juror's                                                                    
     right, but  his duty to  find the verdict  according to                                                                    
     his own  best understanding, judgment,  and conscience,                                                                    
     though  in direct  opposition to  the direction  of the                                                                    
     court."                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
     Our Founding Fathers zealously  defended this right and                                                                    
     recognized  that only  an informed  and empowered  jury                                                                    
     could   effectively  protect   a  defendant   from  the                                                                    
     potentially   harmful    effects   of    judges.   Jury                                                                    
     nullification allows citizens to  have the final say on                                                                    
     what is fair in a court of law.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
     Therefore, jury  nullification is  a good idea  and one                                                                    
     supported by Constitutional principles and freedoms.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON  noted that there  are 27 states  that have                                                               
some  form of  jury nullification,  and most  of them  are within                                                               
their state constitutions.  "New  Hampshire just finished passing                                                               
a jury  nullification," she said.   If one were to  truly believe                                                               
that  when people  join  a jury,  they leave  all  of their  past                                                               
experiences, all  of their biases,  and "everything"  behind, and                                                               
make their determinations only based  on the judge's instructions                                                               
and the  testimony, then  juries would be  selected in  the order                                                               
the people  arrive.   But, people do  take their  experiences and                                                               
biases into  the courtroom, so  "a lot  of this is  already going                                                               
on,"  Representative Wilson explained.  "What this bill basically                                                               
says is we want the judge to give us permission to do it."                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
1:56:00 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
ANNE  CARPENETI,  Assistant   Attorney  General,  Legal  Services                                                               
Section,  Criminal Division,  Department of  Law (DOL),  said the                                                               
DOL has  two serious concerns with  HB 315.  The  language allows                                                               
the defendant  to instruct the  members of  a jury that  they may                                                               
disregard the  laws as given  to the judge "and  to all of  us by                                                               
the people who make the law;  that is, you. You're the people who                                                               
make the law that  we try and enforce to the  best of our ability                                                               
when we charge people with crimes."                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MS. CARPENETI  stated that  the second concern  is the  fact that                                                               
the law  will allow the defendant  in a criminal case  to ask the                                                               
judge to  disregard Alaska's rules  of evidence, which  have been                                                               
written with a view  of making a trial as fair  as possible.  The                                                               
bill requires  the evidence to  be relevant, and that  is already                                                               
true under Alaska  law, but there are various rules  that try and                                                               
dictate evidence  that is just too  prejudicial to be fair  or is                                                               
hearsay   and  not   reliable  enough   to   be  introduced   for                                                               
consideration by the  jury.  However, [HB  315] allows [evidence]                                                               
if  it   is  relevant  in   any  way-even  though  it   might  be                                                               
specifically  disallowed  in statute  or  in  the evidence  code.                                                               
"And then, it  allows the state to  come back and rebut  that.  I                                                               
think  that what  we  would find  is that  allowing  the jury  to                                                               
disregard  the  courts [and]  disregard  our  rules of  evidence,                                                               
would result  in trials  that are  not very  orderly or  not very                                                               
fair to either side."                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER set aside HB 315.