Please contact the following Senators on the Judiciary Committee and politely ask them to vote yes on Senate Bill 924, the Oregon Jury Nullification Bill. 

Ask them to schedule a Hearing for SB 924, and to pass the bill on for a full vote of the Senate. 

Then ask them to support the Right to Jury Nullification and please vote in favor of the measure.

Right now SB 924 is in the Senate Committee On Judiciary

SB 924 is the Oregon Jury Nullification Bill

Does the right to an impartial jury exist?
  
The Sixth Amendment espouses that every individual has a right to an impartial jury. 
 
The impartiality of a juror will always be in question unless they are knowingly informed of their “power to acquit” and “right to nullify” even if guilt of the defendant is proven beyond reasonable doubt.  The only way for a defendant to know that the jury of their peers is aware of this constitutionally enumerated right is if the Judge in their case explains this authority to the jury in the jury instructions.
 
The term for this authority is “Jury Nullification.”

There was a “Jury Nullification” bill recently introduced in the current 2017 Legislative Session. 
 
SB 924 is the Oregon Jury Nullification Bill
 
It is a very important piece of historic legislation, which will need your support to show state senators and representatives that Oregonians believe in the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution and the Sixteenth Amendment of the Oregon State Constitution.
 
The Sixth Amendment as proposed by Congress in 1789 reads as follows:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
 
The Oregon Constitution is one of the few state constitutions that specifically recognize a juror’s power to not only judge the defendant’s guilt in the case in question, but the law to which they are charged. 
 
The Sixteenth Amendment of the Oregon State Constitution reads as follows:
Excessive bail and fines; cruel and unusual punishments; power of jury in criminal case. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed. Cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted, but all penalties shall be proportioned to the offense.—In all criminal cases whatever, the jury shall have the right to determine the law, and the facts under the direction of the Court as to the law, and the right of new trial, as in civil cases.
 
The legislative session in Oregon started on February 1, 2017 and it will end July 10, 2017. 
 
Please contact the following Senators on the Judiciary Committee and politely ask them to schedule a review of SB 924 and submit the bill for a full vote of the Senate. 
Right now SB 924 is in the Senate Committee On Judiciary
 
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Zenger Trial Homepage

The Jury Nullification Bill, SB924, died in committee. 

However, we plan to resurrect it next year.  It will be brought back in the short session in 2018. 

Thank you all for the support. 

Jury Nullification Bill SB924 introduced in the 2017 Oregon State Legislature

SB 924
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Senate Bill Introduced in 2015 in the Oregon Senate
Died in Committee. 

House Bill 3381 Introduced in 2015 in the Oregon House
Died in Committee. 

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Jury Nullification
by Doug Linder (2001)
What is jury nullification?
Jury nullification occurs when a jury returns a verdict of "Not Guilty" despite its belief that the defendant is guilty of the violation charged.  The jury in effect nullifies a law that it believes is either immoral or wrongly applied to the defendant whose fate they are charged with deciding.

When has jury nullification been practiced?
The most famous nullification case is the 1735 trial of  John Peter Zenger, charged with printing seditious libels of the Governor of the Colony of New York, William Cosby.  Despite the fact that Zenger clearly printed the alleged libels (the only issue the court said the jury was free to decide, as the court deemed the truth or falsity of the statements to be irrelevant), the jury nonetheless returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." Jury nullification appeared at other times in our history when the government has tried to enforce morally repugnant or unpopular laws.  In the early 1800s, nullification was practiced in cases brought under the Alien and Sedition Act.  In the mid 1800s, northern juries practiced nullification in prosecutions brought against individuals accused of harboring slaves in violation of the Fugitive Slave Laws.  And in the Prohibition Era of the 1930s, many juries practiced nullification in prosecutions brought against individuals accused of violating alcohol control laws.
More recent examples of nullification might include acquittals of "mercy killers," including Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and minor drug offenders.

Do juries have the right to nullify?
Juries clearly have the power to nullify; whether they also have the right to nullify is another question.  Once a jury returns a verdict of "Not Guilty," that verdict cannot be questioned by any court and the "double jeopardy" clause of the Constitution prohibits a retrial on the same charge.Early in our history, judges often informed jurors of their nullification right.  For example, our first Chief Justice, John Jay, told jurors: "You have a right to take upon yourselves to judge [both the facts and law]."  In 1805, one of the charges against Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial was that he wrongly prevented an attorney from arguing to a jury that the law should not be followed. 
Judicial acceptance of nullification began to wane, however, in the late 1800s.  In 1895, in United States v Sparf, the U. S. Supreme Court voted 7 to 2 to uphold the conviction in a case in which the trial judge refused the defense attorney's request to let the jury know of their nullification power.
Courts recently have been reluctant to encourage jury nullification, and in fact have taken several steps to prevent it.  In most jurisdictions, judges instruct jurors that it is their duty to apply the law as it is given to them, whether they agree with the law or not.  Only in a handful of states are jurors told that they have the power to judge both the facts and the law of the case.  Most judges also will prohibit attorneys from using their closing arguments to directly appeal to jurors to nullify the law.
Recently, several courts have indicated that judges also have the right, when it is brought to their attention by other jurors, to remove (prior to a verdict, of course) from juries any juror who makes clear his or her intention to vote to nullify the law. 

If jurors have the power to nullify, shouldn't they be told so?
That's a good question.  As it stands now, jurors must learn of their power to nullify from  extra-legal sources such as televised legal dramas, novels, or articles about juries that they might have come across.  Some juries will understand that they do have the power to nullify, while other juries may be misled by judges into thinking that they must apply the law exactly as it is given. Many commentators have suggested that it is unfair to have a defendant's fate depend upon whether he is lucky enough to have a jury that knows it has the power to nullify.Judges have worried that informing jurors of their power to nullify will lead to jury anarchy, with jurors following their own sympathies.  They suggest that informing of the power to nullify will increase the number of hung juries.  Some judges also have pointed out that jury nullification has had both positive and negative applications--the negative applications including some notorious cases in which all-white southern juries in the 1950s and 1960s refused to convict white supremacists for killing blacks or civil rights workers despite overwhelming evidence of their guilt.  Finally, some judges have argued that informing jurors of their power to nullify places too much weight on their shoulders--that is easier on jurors to simply decide facts, not the complex issues that may be presented in decisions about the morality or appropriateness of laws.
On the other hand, jury nullification provides an important mechanism for feedback.  Jurors sometimes use nullification to send messages to prosecutors about misplaced enforcement priorities or what they see as harassing or abusive prosecutions.  Jury nullification prevents our criminal justice system from becoming too rigid--it provides some play in the joints for justice, if jurors use their power wisely.