Montana jurors wont sit trial for cannabis possession

A Montana district court was paralyzed last week when Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul could not seat a jury for a marijuana possession case with a tacked-on felony for “criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.” On April 23^rd, Touray Cornell’s home was searched by police and the amount of cannabis seized at the scene was so minuscule that potential jurors did not believe the charge fit the offense. One after another, potential jurors said that they would not convict someone for 1/16^th of an ounce of marijuana. One even posited to Atty. Paul and District Judge Dusty Deschamps why the county was wasting its time and resources to pursue the case at all. At any rate, the state could not seat an unbiased jury for trial so Paul and defense attorney Martin Ellison worked out a plea agreement on Thursday for Mr. Cornell in which he would not admit guilt.

A rare and befuddling experience for Atty. Paul and Judge Deschamps, this apparent “mutiny” by several Montana residents is much more than a lucky shot in the dark as a challenge to the state’s unjust marijuana law. This can happen anywhere, wherever, as defense attorney Ellison stated in his client’s plea:

“Public opinion, as revealed by the reaction of a substantial portion of the members of the jury called to try the charges on Dec. 16, 2010, is not supportive of the state’s marijuana law and appeared to prevent any conviction from being obtained simply because an unbiased jury did not appear available under any circumstances.”

Any group of citizens, in any state may overturn a law of that state if they deem it to be unjust, even after the state has provided evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty. This is a very different phenomenon than what happened in Montana, jury nullification occurs after a full trial when the jury refuses to convict. Last week in Missoula, prosecutors could not even get to trial because so many potential jurors disagreed with the charge philosophically. Jury nullification or "mutiny" as the episode in Missoula has been named, is a crucial tactic in fighting unjust laws, especially those pertaining to drug possession. Visit the Fully Informed Jury Association for more information on jury nullification.