Chesebro, who was charged alongside Donald Trump and more than a dozen other codefendants with attempting to delay the transfer of power after the 2020 election, was scheduled to stand trial this week. He accepted the offer as jury selection was underway on Friday, and after rejecting an earlier deal.
I’m not a lawyer, but have read a bunch about nullification, and it’s an interestingly powerful and simple cheat code in the hands of a juror who otherwise behaves normally during voir dire, the trial, and deliberations.
Because it’s so powerful, the justice system pretty much hates citizens knowing about it. Aggressive steps are often taken to remove protesters who try to make jurors aware of nullification, to the point of violating free-speech rights imo.
If a juror goes full John-Grisham-novel-style, and hides their intent to nullify, and they don’t have a findable personal history that clearly conflicts with what they said during voir dire, there isn’t anything the justice system can do to stop that juror from completely ratfucking the government’s case.
And, there would be extraordinary benefits to doing so. A single juror who nullified the government’s case would become a multimillionaire in short order, and they would be a massive hero to 30% of America.
It’s disturbing to think about.