Newsgroups: alt.drugs From: [Floyd Landrath] at [f69.n105.z1.fidonet.org] (Floyd Landrath) Subject: CITIZENS' RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 01:10:18 GMT AMERICAN ANTI-PROHIBITION LEAGUE & FULLY INFORMED JURY ASSOCIATION 4017 SE Belmont Street, Box 103 Portland, Ore. U.S.A. 97214 (503)235-4524 - AAL (503)291-7439 - FIJA January 24, 1994 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PUBLIC MEETINGS NOTICE The American Anti-Prohibition League and the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) will begin offering an on- going course of instruction called the Citizens' Rights and Responsibilities - the Criminal Justice System Exposed. These meetings will take place at 333 S.W. Park Ave, 4th floor, in Portland, Oregon, beginning Monday, February 7th, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. and will meet every-other Monday thereafter. The course is free and open to all. The schedule for 1994 is as follows: February 7 & 21 July 11 & 25 March 7 & 21 August 8 & 22 April 4 & 18 September 5 & 19 May 2, 16 & 30 October 3, 17 & 31 June 13 & 27 November 14 & 28 December 12 & 26 One of the supporting pillars of the Anti-Prohibition movement is the Fully Informed Jury Association. FIJA, as it's known, is based on the historic precedence of jurors judging the laws, as well as the facts, in any "criminal" or "common law" case. The jury judging laws is one of the oldest and most important of all the "Checks and Balances" we citizens have to prevent government from imposing unreasonable and unjust sanctions upon us. A jury of one's peers. Our objectives are clear and outlined below: * More citizens will learn about the power they have as jurors to pass judgment on the laws of the land before applying those laws to each other. * More judges will stop lying to jurors and no longer "instruct" jurors they must apply the law as the judge dictates or judge "only the facts". * There will be more acquittals and hung juries in victimless crime trials as jurors refuse to enforce bad, misapplied, confusing or unjust laws. * More prosecutors will put greater effort and emphasis on true crimes of intentional damage to property or injury to a person. Fewer victimless crimes will be prosecuted. Knowledge is power. Help us spread the knowledge of the Fully Informed Jury. Please join us and restore "government of, by and for the people". To get involved call the PDX FIJA hotline, 291-7439. END RELEASE OK FOR RELEASE: ________________________________ Floyd Ferris Landrath - Director American Anti-Prohibition League AAL006.DOC HISTORIC QUOTES & NOTES RELATED TO THE FULLY INFORMED JURY FIJA = Fully Informed Jury Association "The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy." -- John Jay, 1st Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1789 "The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1902 "The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided." -- Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1941 "The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge..." -- U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F 2nd 1113, 1139 (1972) History Teaches How to Control Government by Bill Vosburgh Portland FIJA If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, it is obvious we have not paid the price. Government has become destructive of the very reason for it's formation: to protect life, liberty and property. The problems we are experiencing with government are not new or unique to the late twentieth century. Anglo-Saxon history provides a steady stream of examples and a solution. One of the earliest lessons comes from merry old England. While good King Richard the Lionheart was gone off on crusade to the Holy Lands to win Jerusalem back from the Saracens, Richard's brother, the evil Prince John, ruled England. Prince John teamed up with the Lord High Sheriff of Nottingham to loot and oppress the people. They were made famous in the tale of Robin Hood fighting tyranny in Sherwood Forest. When Richard died, evil Prince John became evil King John. John betrayed everyone he had dealings with, kidnaped women and children, imprisoned people or ordered them murdered on a whim, taxed his citizens mercilessly, and even hired a foreign army to terrorize the country in a bloody rampage of rape, robbery and destruction. A group of Barons eventually confronted the king on a meadow at sword point and forced him to agree to certain rights. At first, King John refused to sign because the right to trial by jury gave the Barons power to judge whether the king's laws were good or bad. King John said then, what politicians, prosecutors and courts say today--that no one had the right to oppose him. "The law is in my mouth," he said. The law is whatever government says it is. But the Barons knew that without the right to trial by jury, and the power of jurors to refuse to enforce unjust laws, the Barons would always be subject to oppression and tyranny from uncontrollable rulers. The agreement was the Magna Carta or "great charter". Today, the right to trial by jury is the right we hold most important out of 63 clauses signed on June 15, 1215 at Runnymeade. That right to trial by jury has been passed down through history for more than 800 years in common law countries. If prosecutors and/or courts could enforce laws, there would be no juries. In 1670, 12 illiterate men in London refused to convict William Penn for preaching a Quaker sermon in the street to his congregation locked out of it's church. By law, the Church of England was the only legal religion. The jurors were held for 4 days without food, water, tobacco or toilet facilities. Four jurors were fined and imprisoned for 9 weeks for refusing to convict. On appeal, the highest court released them and established that jurors could not be punished for their verdicts. Our rights to freedom of speech, religion and assembly can all be traced back to that courageous jury over 300 years ago. In the 1690s, the Salem Witch trials transportation of alcohol. That amendment was repealed 14 years later because juries refused to convict violators. Acquittal of 1960s & '70s Vietnam draft resisters could have increased pressure on government and shortened the war. However, juries were not informed of their power to judge the law. Juries too rarely exercise a power they are not aware they have. Fewer do so with the campaign of silence, misinformation and intimidation by the courts. In the Declaration of Independence, our country's founders cited "pretended offenses" and "pretended legislation" as grounds for revolution against King George III. Out of fear for a repeat of such oppressive laws in the future, the right to trial by jury was secured four times in the Constitution. The founders relied on jurors always understanding crime is simply intentional damage to property or injury to a person. The power of juries to refuse to enforce bad, unjust, confusing or misapplied laws had been well established. Today, oppressive "laws" criminalize (sic) non-criminal behavior and forfeiture squads steal from citizens. This is only possible because 95% of all "criminal" cases are "resolved" without jury trial in the judicial system's infamous "plea bargain" process. Accused citizens mistrust juries and juries are uninformed or misinformed about the powers and duty entrusted to them. Bill Vosburgh