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more on keep them ignorant -- ElcomSoft Jury Asks for Law Text - judge refuses
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 19:54:58 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Steve Barber <sbarber () panix com> Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 19:20:14 -0500 To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] keep them ignorant -- ElcomSoft Jury Asks for Law Text - judge refuses Dave -- I have some comments about the IP posting that questioned the denial of the DMCA text to the Elcom jury. I know it sounds disturbing on its face for the judge in the Elcom case to refuse the jury the text of the statute. However, most if not all judges would have done the same thing in any jury case -- not just this judge and not just this case. In jury trials in the US legal system, the jury's job is to find facts and the judge's is to interpret the law. The judge interprets the law relevant to the case, and transmits that interpretation to the jury in the form of the judge's charge. The jury then takes the charge and finds facts (by weighing the credibility of the evidence presented at trial) according to the legal framework the charge provides. For the jury to have access to the text of the statute is effectively to bypass the judge's charge. The charge not only focuses the jury on the parts of the statute relevant to the issues actually presented in the case, but also often contains wording somewhat different from the statute that incorporates controlling judicial precedent relevant to and not present in the actual language of the statute. If the charge is incorrect or incomplete, it is not the jury's job to fix this problem. The remedy for a bad charge is for one of the trial parties to appeal the charge to a higher court. If the jury has heard the charge or deliberated before such an appeal is decided, a mistrial is usually the result, and a new trial is usually granted. -Steve Barber ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on keep them ignorant -- ElcomSoft Jury Asks for Law Text - judge refuses Dave Farber (Dec 14)