A great critique posted by t-bonham. T is right, at least about the lynching part. There may be cases in which you do not like the result of jury nullification, just as there may be cases where you think a guilty defendent was released on a technicality. You have to decide whether, at the end of the day, it is worth it to have such cases decided on principals other than the substantive law as written. OTOH if southern juries nullified laws about civil rights, the rights themselves could be vindicated in civil suits (whether or not some defendants were acquitted for criminally violating those rights). Nullification only works in criminal cases. The reasons those rights were not enforced civilly involved racism in state legislatures and judiciaries. A very different problem indeed.
I didn’t say it was common; I said it was a common law belief.
And for the record, I am a supporter of jury nullification. If it’s used responsibly.
But such a ruling in my favor though would only have the value of precedent locally wouldn’t it?
Unless of course I took my case to the highest court in the land.
In a trial court, it would be binding precedent only in that court (and then only so long as the judge didn’t change his mind), but would be secondary precedent that could be used in another court or jurisdiction to make a persuasive argument (“Judge, case law in other jurisdictions supports our argument; we direct the court’s attention to BobT v. City of Somewhere…”).
Generally speaking, trial court rulings don’t establish any precedent at all, except in the particular case they address. So a local judge ruling that the cat law was unconstitutional would have the effect of halting your prosecution, but it would not establish any other precedent. Presumably, the state would appeal the trial court’s ruling, and at some point they would reach your state’s lowest precedent-setting court. In Virginia, we have a General District court, which is the court of first instance for misdemeanor cases. An appeal from that court’s ruling would be heard by the Circuit Court, which is also the court of first instance for felony charges. (Note that if you are found guilty, you have any appeal “as of right” to the Circuit Court, and a completely new - “de novo” - trial.) The appeal from the Circuit Court is to the Virginia Court of Appeals, whose decisions are binding precedent. And finally, an appeal from the Court of Appeals lands you in the Virginia Supreme Court. If you have claimed that the cat law is violative of the state constitution, this is your court of last resort. If you’ve raised a federal constitutional question, then you may appeal the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Obviously, the state may appeal adverse rulings in the same manner. Note that there’s no “double jeopardy” involved - the case against you is dismissed before trial by the finding that the law is unconstitutional, so jeopardy never attaches to your case. If the US Supreme Court decides that the lower courts were wrong, and that the cat law does not violate the US Constitution, then the case is remanded all the way back down to the trial court for trial.
- Rick
I might be quibbling by calling it precedent, but a prior decision in a trial court can have precedent-like value if the issue is brought up again in the same court (although I think I may have screwed up the method in state court). For example, in a case I was working on while a law clerk in federal district court, some cunning litigants dug up an opinion from our court in a factually similar case. That pretty much made up my mind for me. The opposite party was left in the uncomfortable position of either trying to find some sort of factual distinction between the two, or flat out telling the judge he was wrong the first time and should reverse himself.
Of course, in this situation the opinion was published in the federal supplement, which may make all the difference. I’m 99% sure no state trial court publishes decsions in reporters (certainly no municipal court) so my example of citing BobT v. City fo Somewhere may be in error (cut me some slack, I’m new to this state stuff :D). I don’t know exactly how you would point out to a state judge about a prior ruling in his court, other than relying on his memory.
Actually, decisions of trial courts in many states are published. New York, where I practice, has extensive publication of lower court cases. Many are published in the official reporter “Miscellaneous Reports” (Misc./Misc.2d), which are reprinted in the New York Supplement (N.Y.S./N.Y.S.2d) of the West National Reporter System.
In Misc.2d you’ll find reports from the Supreme Court (which, perversely, is New York’s trial court of general jursidiction) as well as just about all lower courts, including courts of limited jursdiction like Surrogates Court (probate) and Family Court. I’ve even seen small claims cases reported.
In addition, we have the New York Law Journal, a daily legal newspaper which reports cases from all of the courts in downstate New York. The NYLJ is on Lexis and Westlaw, and is frequently cited.
I know that New Jersey has a lower court official reported, N.J. Misc., in addition to N.J. App. (intermediate appellate court) and N.J. (supreme court), each of which are reprinted in A.2d. I also believe that many other states have lower court decisions reported in their official and West reporters. For instance, many Delaware Chancery Court decisions are reported (and I think there is an unofficial reporter of all corporate decisions that Delaware practicioners use).
I don’t know if other states have restrictions on what may be considered a precedential decision, but in New York at least, just about anything you can show the judge will be considered (for what it may be worth).
Isn’t that hilarious. I actually won a major case in Hawaii using only a published NY small claims court opinion as authority. The best part: the small claims opinion involved Federal Bankruptcy law. It was the only case on point.
Shows what I know!