Former Special Assistant United States Attorney Paul Butler has written a book titled “Let’s Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice” (The New press). A self proclaimed “recovering prosecutor”, Mr. Butler, who is the Associate Dean of Faculty Development and the Carville Dickenson Benson Research Professor at George Washington University Law, is on a crusade to end the “War on Drugs”. His solution: Jury nullification. He calls on Juror’s to send a message that “We ain’t gonna take it no more” and to vote “not guilty” in cases where defendants are accused of possessing drugs for personal use or sales of small amounts. He refers to this proposed movement of Jury Nullifiers as “Martin Luther King Juror’s”.
Actually, I think the title is quite fitting; Jury Nullification based on what some perceive as unjust rather than what is truly unjust seem dishonest. Just like the personal life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There is no denying that Martin Luther King was a man of Public integrity and great courage. Personally however, he was a Baptist Minister who preached the word of the Lord but acted like the Devil – cheating on his wife came as naturally to him as cheating his way through college.
Dr. Ralph Luker, keeper of King’s papers at Emory University in Atlanta, stated the following: “The further King went into his academic career the more deeply ingrained the patterns of borrowing language without clear attribution became. Thus, plagiarism in his dissertation seemed to be, by then, the product of his established practice.” Clayborn Carson, director of King’s papers at Stanford University had this to say about Dr. King’s dishonesty: “In stances of textural appropriation can be seen in his earliest extent writings as well as his speeches and sermons throughout his career.” And let us not forget that the F.B.I. is in possession of tapes which reveal how Dr. King spent his last day on Earth – in the company of two white prostitutes. (At the request of the King Family, these tapes are under seal until 2025.)
While Martin Luther King may or may not of had his own “dream”, clearly former Prosecutor Paul Butler is dreaming. In an article published in Prison Legal News (www.prisonlegalnews.org) Mr. Butler writes: “Like the “creative disobedience” that Martin Luther king used to advance his civil rights, strategic nullification would be a powerful call for change. (“Jury Nullification: Power To The People” June 2009). He also writes:
“Tell everyone you know about Jury Nullification. It’s legal, it’s powerful, and it could help bring about the change American Criminal Justice desperately needs.”
To suggest that a movement of Jury Nullifier’s would help end the “War on Drug’s” or force sentence reform is unrealistic. To begin with, more than 90% of all drug offenders take plea bargains and of those who risk jury trail around 94% lose. So let’s suppose that word of Mr. Butler’s movement spreads across the land and that everyone miraculously comes together, joins hands, sings kumbaya and pledges to rebel against the system and acquits every single guilty small-town drug dealer and user that goes to trial. How long does Mr. Butler think it would take for things to change? A year? Five years? Ten? And, keep in mind that in order for this to work, drug offenders would have to be convinced that it was in their best interest to stop taking plea bargains and to start going to trial.
It’s just not going to happen.
As it stands, the “War on Drug’s” is a joke and our current drug laws need reform. But legalizing drugs (with the exception of marijuana) is not the answer nor would it be right for jurors to abuse their power by acquitting drug offenders, many of which are addicts who would only go back and commit more crimes to support their habits. This would ultimately be an injustice to the defendant, our legal system and our communities. Instead, people need to start voting for politicians that not only take our nations drug crisis seriously, but who offer real solutions. Do you realize that we just had one of the most exciting Presidential Elections in history and not once did a single reporter hold any of the candidate’s feet to the fire when it came to the “War on Drugs”? Nor was this subject brought up in any of the debates. President Obama has commented that the “War on Drugs” is a failure, but offered no solutions and so far has done nothing to push forth sentence reform. In fact, while the words he speaks may indicate that reform will come, recently he included funding for the (federal) Bureau of Prison Staff boost in his fiscal 2010 budget proposal. Nevertheless, things can and will change if you, the voter, force politicians to commit to their campaign promises or more importantly, make sure you know where each candidate stands before you vote for them.
I do agree that people need to know about Jury Nullification. If a defendant is technically guilty but you feel that they don’t deserve punishment, based on your morals and principles, you have the right to vote “not guilty” and encourage your fellow Juror’s to do the same. A perfect example of appropriate or “just” nullification would be to vote “not guilty” for a father who is on trial for killing someone who molested and / or otherwise harmed his child. A poor example of jury nullifications would be to vote “not guilty” based on a movement, such as a bunch of “Martin Luther King Jurors” trying to change the law.
Martin Luther king, the man of great public integrity, said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
As someone who cares about his family and their future what matters to me is that people wake up and realize our nations illegal drug problem is a crisis equal to our current economic situation, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, illegal immigration, health care reform, and the nuclear threats of North Korea and Iran.
As an addict what matters to me is that people realize the root of America’s drug problem starts with the consumer and nothing is going to change unless people are deferred from using drugs in the first place.
As a federal prisoner, serving life without parole for a non-violent drug offense what matters to me is that (federal) law makers realize that no one should ever serve more than 20 years in prison for a drug crime and that serious reform is needed – sentence reform which includes retro-active relief for those incarcerated as well as the creation of new mandatory minimums that target the right offenders: Importers, Exporters, Manufacturers and Interstate Traffickers, not mid to low –level dealers and habitual offenders.
And as someone who is grateful to be an American Citizen, what matters to me is that people realize that although our Criminal Justice system has many flaws, the framework is structurally sound and people like the “Recovering Prosecutor” Paul Butler should not encourage others to undermine it.
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