NEWS AND NOTES OF INTEREST FROM FIJA NATIONAL

Recent Law Review articles well worth checking out:  M. Kristine Creagan, "Jury
Nullification: Assessing Recent Legislative Developments", 43 Case Western
Reserve Law Review, 3, 1993, p.1101 (This paper discusses FIJA legislative
efforts, and offers sympathetic and useful Bill language.);  Lt. Commander
Robert E. Korroch and Major Michael J. Davidson, "Jury Nullification: A Call
for Justice or an Invitation to Anarchy", 139 Military Law Review, Winter 1993,
p.131 (Discusses the FIJA movement, suggests a nullification instruction for use
in Military Courts-Martial in "exceptional cases.");  The Honorable Jack B.
Weinstein, "Considering Jury "Nullification":  When May and Should a Jury
Reject the Law to do Justice", American Criminal Law Review, 30, p.240 (United
States District Judge Weinstein, from the Eastern District of New York, presents
a sympathetic analysis of jury nullification, stopping short of advocating an
instruction to the jury; mentions FIJA).

Larry Dodge had an interview with ABC News at the trial of the Branch
Davidians in San Antonio, which made the nationwide AP wires.  This interview
aired during the Rush Limbaugh show on Radio Network News (or Network
Indiana News?), and was heard by a supporter in Indiana.

Gary Dusseljee also apparently made NBC news in conjunction with the Waco
demonstration, where his giant FIJA sign was prominently displayed on Larry's
car.   Gary used a public address system to address the jury pool as they entered
the courthouse, playing FIJA P.S.A.s.  An attempt was made by the police to
interfere with his first amendment rights by arresting him, but media
representatives surrounded him as a human shield.

Appearances on national talk radio included Don Doig, on Pat Buchanan and
Company, with hosts for the day Phil Nicolaides, formerly of Voice of America,
and Barry Lynd, from the Washington Office of the ACLU.  All parties to the
discussion agreed FIJA was a good idea, and a necessary policy reform, which
ought to be implemented.

Several guests on the Tom Valentine Show and Chuck Harder's For the People
show discussed FIJA, including (variously) Red Beckman, Jim Harnsberger, and
Linda Thompson.

The New York Times ran an article on the controversy over mailings to jurors in
the Branch Davidian trial, which went out over nationwide AP wires.  It included
FIJA's 1-800-TEL-JURY phone number.

Thanks to Gary Dusseljee, FIJA now has an additional 800 number.  It is  1-800-
TELL-JUR.  This is to catch the "wrong numbers" which happen when people
hear the "tel-jury" name but don't pick up on the single L in TEL.  About ten
percent of the calls into the office are on this second line!  In fact, two minutes
after he hooked it up, a call came in from a talk show host in the Virgin Islands,
who booked Gary for a long-distance appearance.  

Godfrey Lehman reports that according to the New York Times and the San
Francisco Chronicle, large corporations are requiring employees to waive jury
trials in disputes with the company as a condition of promotion.  Also: keep an
eye on elite efforts to form an international court under the U.N. to which
Americans would be subject without benefit of a jury of their peers.  For instance
international environmental crimes could put you under this jurisdiction for
violations committed by you on your own land, and these laws would not be
passed by your representatives under our constitutional Republic.  These would
be dictatorial laws coming from the U.N.  Caveat emptor.
 
Several FIJA supporters have called to say that Rush Limbaugh has--on several
occasions--made comments to the effect that a jury can totally disregard anything
a judge says, that a jury can do whatever they want.

Nationally syndicated columnist L.M. Boyd explained the concept of jury
nullification in response to a question from a reader.  We saw his column in the
March 11, 1994 edition of the Anchorage Daily News.