VAN NUYS : Group Seeks to Let Juries Nullify Laws

Jurors arriving at the Van Nuys Courthouse on Tuesday morning were greeted with an unusual message: If you don’t agree with the law, ignore it.

Jim Harnsberger, a 38-year-old San Diego county resident, stood in front of the Municipal Court building and urged jurors to vote their consciences when asked to reach verdicts in criminal cases.

The state coordinator for the Fully Informed Jury Assn., a group that Harnsberger says is active in 44 states, preaches the view that government has meddled too much in the lives of citizens. Government is foisting too many laws on people, Harnsberger said.

Jurors walking up the courthouse steps seemed unaffected by Harnsberger.

Harnsberger and his group want to get a “jury rights bill” introduced in the Legislature next year. If the proposal is passed, it would institutionalize the concept of “jury nullification,” where juries could essentially nullify laws they believe are unjust--even if the defendant admits committing the crime.

Robert M. Letteau, the supervising judge of Van Nuys Superior Court, said “chaos is inevitable” if juries fail to follow the law. “Their job is to weigh the evidence, not summarily disregard it,” he said.

The most celebrated recent case of jury nullification in California occurred last October in San Diego, where a panel acquitted a man on two felony counts of growing marijuana. Samuel Skipper admitted cultivating the plant, but the jury said he should be allowed to smoke pot to combat the nausea he suffers from AIDS.

After only 22 minutes of deliberation, according the Harnsberger, the jury in Skipper’s trial “said it was a medical necessity and in that case we’re not going to apply the law.”

The goal of the Montana-based Fully Informed Jury Assn. “is to raise public debate,” Harnsberger said.

Helping Harnsberger spread the word were several members of the Granada Forum, a San Fernando Valley group that also seeks to increase public discussion of “political and health freedoms,” according to member Anne Winner.

Harnsberger, who is in the midst of a 19-city tour of California, was scheduled to address the Granada Forum on Tuesday night on the proposed jury rights bill and a proposed jury compensation act, which seeks to increase pay for jurors.