Left to right: Jordan Elliot, Jessica Perkins, Mike Angelos, and Michael D. Elliot.

The Illinois Liberty Alliance entry rolled through the parade with 11 volunteers, a white Ron Paul 2012 decorated van playing Ron Paul supporting music, two FIJA banners which read, “Called for Jury Duty? Know your Rights. FIJA.ORG”, over 3,500 pieces of literature, and bags of candy and balloons. The literature included Ron Paul newspapers made by an Iowa grassroots group and Jury Rights Day cards created by the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA).

Nancy Brandt of Henry County was the coordinator of this event. “We spent 5 1/2 hours stamping the literature with “Illinois Liberty Alliance. Find us at: SuperLiberty.com”. We enjoyed walking with the banners, and we distributed 1600-1700 Jury Rights Day cards at East Moline, Illinois’ Labor Day Parade. One man I gave a card to said, ‘I better look at this. I’ve got jury duty coming up.’ I told him to go to the FIJA website.” Nancy expects the cards to be good advertising tools for their local group.

Rafe Thrasher, a Ron Paul supporter in Illinois said, “Ron Paul is a huge promoter and educator of jury rights, so it makes sense that we join forces with the local Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) and help them promote Jury Rights Day in a Labor Day parade.”

The outreach table featured FIJA outreach literature, including our brand new Fresh Air for Justice brochure, freely available for anyone to take. One of our brand new 6′ wide by 3′ high FIJA banners hung on the wall next to the table was easily visible all the way across the building. The banner was also carried in the Fair Parade kicking off the event.

Volunteers at the table were available to offer literature to passersby and to invite them to sign petitions for state initiatives, including a fully informed jury initiative. While FIJA National is a strictly educational organization that does not engage in political activities, state level groups and individuals not covered under our 501(c)3 status may do so at their discretion.

David and Leona Merrick reported that most responses to juror education outreach efforts were positive. “If they’re not in favor of jury nullification and they think that we’re kind of going against the grain, we just thank them for stopping by and for listening to our pitch. We try to give them, if they will take it, some further information on what the fully informed jury means,” David said.

“There are probably about a thousand or so, I’d guess, that we have talked to,” David estimated over the course of 4 days of outreach. He noted that they have distributed FIJA literature every year for the last few years at the fair. Several people who visited the table recognized the outreach effort from previous years.

Leona also credited FIJA’s eye-catching, yellow “We Are Everywhere” t-shirts for attracting people to the table to learn more. “I think we have passed out the most literature ever this year,” she said.

Freedom by Jury

We should be celebrating September 5 with at least as much exuberance and respect as we celebrate July 4 or Thanksgiving. It’s Jury Rights Day.

Little is made of the date. Most people are completely unaware of its historic significance and have never heard that jurors have rights. Yet it was on that date in 1670 when a group of jurors in London used their right and power to invalidate an unjust law.

We can draw a direct link between several of our First Amendment guarantees to jurors who decided that some laws are so bad that they would refuse to convict defendants prosecuted under those laws, even when directed to do so by a presiding judge.

It’s jury nullification. Some jurors risked their own freedom to exercise that right.

Click through to read the entire article.

She will be talking about Jury Rights Day and the growing need for informed jurors across the nation as government employees and politicians stray further away from the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Jurors are the primary protection of our human rights against corrupt government.

She will be commenting on the present case in Northern Idaho, regarding father who is being persecuted for protecting his children from a bear in the backyard. She will also discuss the protection that comes from our neighbors who form our juries—to protect us from the predatory, vicious actions of government, whether government is a king, a politician, a paid lackey, or a local bureaucrat who lives on your taxes.

Dick Marple, FIJA State Contact for New Hampshire, sends us this proclamation from New Hampshire Governor John H. Lynch, declaring today Jury Appreciation Day in the State of New Hampshire:

We will be featuring news of more Jury Rights Day celebrations and outreach as reports come in. To let us know about YOUR event, please e-mail us details to aji(AT)fija(DOT)org.

If you submit an editorial or letter to the editor, please be sure to send us a link to it on the web or a hard copy so we can refer to it from our website. Even if it is not published, please let us know about it as we may feature it on our website or in our newsletter!

Here’s something simple you can do RIGHT NOW to help celebrate Jury Rights Day and get the word out about the juror’s authority and responsibility in delivering justice.

Add one of our Jury Rights Day graphics to your website and link back to our site. Be sure to email us at aji(AT)fija(DOT)org to let us know where you have posted it.

Use one of these banners to show your support for Jury Rights Day. Please don’t link directly to the image. Download the image and upload it to your own website.

For those who have an event or activity scheduled, please let us know! You may e-mail aji(AT)fija(DOT)org with the details and we will be happy to help get the word out through our social media circles. We would also appreciate it if you would send a write-up on your event, with pictures if you have them, after it takes place to be featured on our website or in our newsletter. If you post video from your event, please send us those links as well!

For more ideas and resources for your outreach events and activities, please visit our Jury Rights Day page.

How will YOU be celebrating Jury Rights Day?

For those who do not yet have plans, we will be posting a variety of suggestions in the next few weeks to help you out. For those who have an event or activity scheduled, please let us know! You may e-mail aji(AT)fija(DOT)org with the details and we will be happy to help get the word out through our social media circles. We would also appreciate it if you would send a write-up on your event, with pictures if you have them, after it takes place to be featured on our website or in our newsletter. If you post video from your event, please send us those links as well!

This week we want to let you know about a very simple Jury Rights Day promotion that anyone can do. If you will be out of town for Jury Rights Day, which happens to coincide with Labor Day this year, you can still participate! For the first time, we are offering Jury Rights Day announcements in postcard size this year:

These 4.25″ X 5.5″ cards come in assorted colors, all with a glossy finish. The front of the card shows our Jury Rights Day logo, website, toll-free number, and the following text:
FIJA Activists
-Inform potential jurors of their traditional, legal authority to refuse to enforce corrupt laws;
-Inform potential jurors that they cannot be required to check their conscience at the courthouse door;
-Inform potential jurors that they cannot be punished for their verdict;
-Inform everyone to protect human rights against government tyranny.
That is FIJA’s message.

The back side of each card is blank so you can address and stamp them to mail to people or print your local organization’s information on the back to hand out at events. These cards are great for announcing Jury Rights Day events. The date is marked on the cards with no year specified. Since Jury Rights Day is on September 5th each year, if you have cards leftover this year, you can still put them to use next year.

Jury Rights Day announcement postcards can be ordered online through our Media Catalog, or you can give us a call in the office at (406) 442-7800 to order by phone. For more ideas and resources for your outreach events and activities, please visit our Jury Rights Day page.

They can be previewed online here.

FIJA will ship them, postage paid, for a deposit, and on their return when the event is over, and FIJA will refund the deposit. If you would like to purchase a banner, please contact us for details.

We also remind everyone that all of our brochures are available free online for you to download and print for your events. If you are planning to order brochures or other materials for events throughout the summer, and especially if you are planning a Jury Rights Day (5 September) event, be sure to place your order early to ensure sufficient shipping time. We recommend ordering 3 weeks in advance.

We encourage everyone to do one or more of the following simple things to celebrate Jury Rights Day:
-Gather a group of friends and hand out some brochures (order here or print your own).
-Call in to or be a guest on talk radio shows.
-Write letters to the editor (download boilerplates you can adapt).
-Speak at schools or to civic groups.
-Add a Jury Rights Day graphic to your website and link to FIJA.
-Follow FIJA on Twitter and use hashtag #juryrightsday to promote Jury Rights Day before September 5 and to inform people about jurors’ rights on September 5.
-Post a Jury Rights Day status on your Facebook page and link to FIJA.
-Kick off a Challenge for Churches series at your church (Jury Rights Day falls on Sunday this year!).
-Get in touch with one of your state contacts to help plan an event for Jury Rights Day or contact us to volunteer as a FIJA contact in your state.

Generally make the news known that jurors can and must vote their conscience!

We encourage you to check with your state contacts for information, or you can contact the FIJA National office for literature, press release boilerplates, proclamation boilerplates which we encourage mayors and governors to sign, and other materials. Please also feel free to e-mail us with a summary of your Jury Rights Day plans if you would like us to help publicize them through our website and social networks. Also, use the state news section of the forums for coordination and announcements!

Finally, we encourage you to get in touch with us after Jury Rights Day to let us report back on your events. Let us know what you do and what happens so we can publish the news in the newsletter and on our website.

We have recently posted Jury Rights Day graphics you can download and use to link back to FIJA’s website to help educate potential jurors about their rights and responsibilities in the jury box.

And don’t forget you have the opportunity to win cash or other prizes by entering our Justice Through Jurors video contest. The top prize is $250 for a video no longer than three minutes. You still have time to enter, but don’t miss the deadline- videos must be submitted by August 15. We will announce the winners on Jury Rights Day.

The theme of the contest is “Justice Through Jurors”. Juries are a rational mechanism for justice. Jurors are independent judges of the facts and the law because they have no legal career to build, nor score to keep for record of wins. They are independent observers with no vested interest in enforcing the agenda of either side. Whether acting through government or private legal systems, juries are our most fail-safe human institution for manifesting justice in a peaceful society. Juries are peaceful mechanisms which replace the mechanism of resolution by violent conflict. FIJA invites you to submit up to 3 original videos promoting or illustrating this theme.

Videos should
1. be no more than 3 minutes long,
2. contain only original or fair use material,
3. feature FIJA’s URL (fija.org/aie653l) and toll-free number (1-800-TEL-JURY),
4. contain no obscenity, profanity, or illegal activity, and
5. be available online for not less than one year from the date of submission.

Prizes will be awarded as follows:
-The first place winner will receive $250.
-The second place winner will receive $100.
-The third place winner will receive $50.
-Up to ten honorable mentions will receive a Lysander Spooner Reader.
-All entrants will receive a FIJA gift pack.

To submit a video, post it online at YouTube, Vimeo, etc., and send the link, your name, and a mailing address to aji@fija.org/aie653l. (Your personal information will be used only for contest purposes.) Please make your video embeddable as we may feature it on our blog on a future Freedom Friday! Each participant or group may submit up to 3 entries. All submissions must be received by August 15, 2010.

Winners will be announced on our website on Jury Rights Day, 5 September 2010. Prizes will be mail on or before 15 September 2010.

Friday marks the 338th anniversary of when jurors refused to convict William Penn of violating England’s Conventicle Acts, despite clear evidence that he acted illegally by preaching a Quaker sermon. In refusing to convict Penn, the jurors ignored what they knew to be an unjust law. This is known as jury nullification.

By refusing to enforce what they knew was an unjust law, the Penn jurors served justice, and provided a basis for our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion, and peaceable assembly. For refusing to find Penn guilty, the judge sent four of Penn’s jurors to prison. Their exoneration fixed forever the English and American doctrine that jurors have the responsibility to decide both matters of law and fact in any case before them. Individual jurors are the last line of defense for people who are prosecuted under bad laws by overzealous prosecutors and court officials.

The Founders intended that jurors would use their rights and responsibilities to judge the law and the facts in every trial, and do justice. The Sixth and Seventh Amendments were included in the Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person brought to trial has Juror Protection.

Juror nullification is integral to our judicial system. It is one of the “checks and balances” of justice required by a free society. An individual juror has the authority to stop an unjust prosecution by refusing to convict. No reason for the verdict is required. Most Grand and Petit Jurors do not know about their authority. Knowledge of this authority must be restored to protect us.

Our Founders embraced juror nullification as necessary to a free society. Nullification is the test that all laws must pass. Juror nullification has been used by jurors throughout our history to “nullify” unpopular and unjust laws, including laws against witches, publishing the truth, free speech, religion, hiding slaves, and Prohibition.

The Fully Informed Jury Association (www.fija.org/aie653l) is dedicated to educating all Americans about the authority of the Juror. FIJA publishes and distributes educational material but depends upon grassroots activists to inform jurors of their rights and to undertake state-level lobbying or ballot-issue efforts. A proclamation for Jury Rights Day was signed today by Governor Sarah Palin, candidate for Vice President of the United States.

FIJA Activist Frank Turney with Governor Sarah Palin (PDF)

Jury Rights Day September 5, 2008

This Friday, September 5, 2008, marks the 338th anniversary of the day when jurors refused to convict William Penn of violating England’s Conventicle Acts, despite clear evidence that he acted illegally by preaching a Quaker sermon. In refusing to convict Penn, the jurors refused to enforce what they knew to be an unjust law. This is known as jury nullification.

By refusing to enforce what they knew was an unjust law, the Penn jurors not only served justice, but provided a basis for our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion, and peaceable assembly. For their refusal to obey the judge’s instruction to find Penn guilty, the judge sent four of Penn’s jurors to prison for nine weeks. Their later release and exoneration established forever the English and American doctrine that it is the right and responsibility of all jurors to decide matters of law and fact in any case before them.

Jurors stand as the last line of defense for people being prosecuted under unjust laws by overzealous government prosecutors and court officials.

The founders of this nation intended that jurors in all cases would know of their rights and responsibilities to judge the law, its application, and the facts in each case, to ensure that justice is served. The Sixth and Seventh Amendments are included in the Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person brought to trial has the benefit of the protection of a jury.

It was understood by the founders that all matters brought to the courts were to be considered by a jury of independent, free individuals, who were not beholden to the courts or government, and who would freely render a verdict based on justice, even if in direct opposition to the courts and the law.

Jury nullification is an integral part of our judicial system, serving as one of the “checks and balances” required by a free society. An individual juror has the power to stop an unjust prosecution by refusing to convict. This fact is unknown to most jurors today, and has contributed greatly to the decline of the authority of the jury in our court system.

Our Founding Fathers accepted the common law principle of jury nullification as an important safeguard for a free society: a test that all laws must pass. Jury nullification has been used by jurors throughout our history to “nullify” unpopular and unjust laws, from laws against free speech to slavery to Prohibition.

The Fully Informed Jury Association (www.fija.org/aie653l) is a non-profit association dedicated to educating all Americans about their rights, powers, and responsibilities as trial jurors.

FIJA publishes and distributes educational material but depends upon grassroots activists to inform jurors of their rights and to undertake state-level lobbying or ballot-issue efforts.

Governors across the nation have signed Jury Rights Day Proclamations recognizing this right and authority of the juror to render a verdict based on conscience and in the service of justice. This year, Proclamations have come from Connecticut, the State of Washington, and from Alaska’s Governor, Sarah Palin, who is now a Vice-Presidential candidate.

This September 5, private groups across the nation will hand out educational literature, provide interviews, give talks to civic groups, and send letters to their local newspapers to encourage people to learn more about the rights and responsibilities of jury service, as well as to encourage those on trial to demand their right to a trial by jury.

For additional information on juror rights, call the Fully Informed Jury Association’s toll-free line at 1-800-TEL-JURY, or visit their website at www.fija.org/aie653l. To help spread the word, you can contact your local or state FIJA worker through the list of State Contacts on the website.

The Fully Informed Jury Association is a not-for-profit research and educational group dedicated to informing all Americans of their right and duty to judge both the law and the facts, and to render a verdict based on their conscience and their own best sense of justice, even if contrary to the directions of the court.

Contact:
Iloilo Marguerite Jones
Executive Director

http://www.fija.org/aie653l

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On September 5 of this year, FIJA activists across the nation will once again celebrate the right of jurors to render a verdict based on conscience by handing out literature, writing letters to the editor, appearing on interviews, and speaking to groups. For more information, go to www.fija.org/aie653l.

September 5th marks the 338th anniversary of the trial of William Penn – a trial that laid the foundation of our First Amendment Constitutional Rights of Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of Peaceable Public Assembly. Many Governors have signed Proclamations in recognition of Jury Rights Day.

In 1670, Quaker William Penn of London was arrested, pled not guilty, and subsequently argued against England’s Conventicle Acts, which forbade the practice of religions other than the Church of England. The Judge instructed the Jurors to find Penn guilty. The Jurors’ refusal to enforce a bad law led to the Court jailing and withholding food and water from the Jurors.

On appeal, the right of Jurors to base their verdict on their best judgment and conscience, despite existing law and court instruction, was affirmed, and cemented the seldom-used but important right of  Jury Nullification of Bad Law  in all our legal systems – the ultimate right of the people to control their government.

These underlying common law concepts firmly establish the fact that Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict. As well, jurors are not required to give a reason for the verdict they render. The fundamental right of Jurors to render their verdict based on conscience is basic to the preservation of Justice, and to our Lawful Society.

Remember:
- Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict.
- Jurors cannot be required to give a reason for their verdict.
- Jurors have both the authority and the human duty to render a verdict based on their individual sense of justice and their conscience.

Receive a free information packet by calling 1-800-TEL-JURY. Visit www.fija.org/aie653l.

For Immediate release
21 August, 2008
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Contact:
FIJA www.fija.org/aie653l
1-406-442-7800 aji@fija.org/aie653l
Iloilo Marguerite Jones, Executive Director