If only the jurors in Martha Stewart’s trial had heard of the power of jury nullification. In our judicial system today, judges instruct juries that they can only evaluate the facts, not the law. But this is a falsehood. Traditionally, juries have had the power to judge both the facts and the law, and by right (if not always in practice) they still do. Every once in a while we still hear of a jury (sometimes in a tv show or movie) that, despite the judge’s admonition to judge only the facts, finds a law to be unjust and lets the accused go free.

Juries have final veto power over all acts of legislature. The power of jury nullification is part of the checks and balances set up in the Constitution to restrain our government. Like many other elements in the checks and balances system, it has been steadily eroded by government officials and lawyers. Jury nullification is one of the final safeguards we have against an unjust and tyrannical government. We let the government take it away from us at our own peril.

Judging from the comments of some of the jurors in Martha’s case, the power of jury nullification, if they had been aware of it, probably would not have helped her. This is due in large part to the poor education that our public education system provides and to the many sophisms uttered by politicians and the mainstream media about insider trading, the rich, economics and law in general, and Martha herself. Who knows though, if the jurors had known about the power of jury nullification, maybe they would have had a twinge of conscience and let her go.

For more information on the power of jury nullification:
Jurors’ Handbook: A Citizens Guide to Jury Duty
“An Essay on the Trial by Jury” (1852) by Lysander Spooner

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Martha Stewart has been found “guilty” of… of what? Insider-trading? The prosecution couldn’t get that one to stick. Outsider trading? What the hell is that? Some new non-crime the government has cooked up? She was found “guilty” on counts of “obstruction of justice” and “making false statements.” But the fact is, she didn’t do anything wrong. Not only is insider trading not a crime in any legitimate sense (despite what the US statute books may say), but according to the government’s definition of insider trading, she didn’t even do it! As for the charges of which she was found “guilty,” apparently it is a crime nowadays to declare one’s innocence. And yet law enforcement, government lawyers, politicians, and other government officials can not only get away with what Martha will likely go to jail for, they are actually encouraged and trained to do it! Our justice system is no mere joke; it is an outrageous and tyrannical travesty of justice; it is unjust. If you are not outraged by the injustice that has been done to Martha, then you deserve the tyranny the US is turning into. America is fast becoming not a land of the free, but the home of slaves and their masters. Martha Stewart is the victim of a witch-hunt and was found “guilty” in a show trial.

Martha Stewart Found Guilty

An Open Letter from Martha Stewart
Martha is Innocent
The Lynching of Martha
Wealthy Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
What the Martha Stewart Case Means to You
Mises.org articles supporting Martha
Other blogger comments
The non-crime of insider trading
The newly fabricated “crime” of outsider trading

Another heroine who stood up to the state: Vivien Kellems.

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