Anti-ICE group promotes jury nullification training for Minneapolis agitators

A Minneapolis-based anti-ICE group is promoting "jury nullification training" for agitators, which they claim protects "our local heroes." The trainings are being promoted by Defend 612, a group that claims to be "Supporting resistance to the ICE occupation in Minneapolis by connecting neighbors, sharing resources and documenting."

Two virtual trainings are set to take place on February 23 and March 5, titled "The People’s Room or Jury Nullification." The description for the event states, "Jury Nullification is a legal tactic has been used to protect one another from unjust laws and political persecution. We will learn about jury nullification — or the people’s pardon — how it’s been used, ways it can stem authoritarian overreach, and how we can use it today."

The photo advertising the event appears to come from a training by Freedom Trainers. The training notes historical cases of jury nullification and how such a concept is used in grand jury and criminal jury cases. It says that the concept is legal, and that "jurors cannot legally be punished for their verdicts — no matter their reasons. It is your right to return a verdict. A judge cannot direct a jury to deliver a guilty verdict." It claims that prosecutors and judges may "discourage it," and may "imply or lie — even in the instructions to the jury. They may claim there is no such thing or that doing jury nullification violates the juror’s oath. It does not." 

It highlights the four steps for undertaking jury nullification, including responding to a summons, getting picked for the jury, deliberating "with conscience," and "don’t get removed." On the subject of getting picked for the jury, the training states, "In short: you can legally nullify once on a jury, but you can’t say that’s your plan — or you’ll likely be removed before the trial begins." It also discusses ways to not get removed from the jury for attempting nullification, including not openly saying "you plan to ignore the law or instructions," and not discussing plans with other jurors before deliberation.

Veteran Twin Cities attorney Doug Wardlow told Alpha News, "If you are telling people to lie to the court to obtain a position on a jury and then engage in jury nullification for the express purpose of ensuring that the laws are not prosecuted and enforced against offenders, that seems to me to be illegal." 

He said that while there is a history of jury nullification in the US, organized efforts with the goal of derailing cases raised ethical concerns. "Jury nullification can be an important tool for resisting tyranny. On the other hand, if you’re organizing training for jury nullification as a means of essentially obstructing the enforcement of the law in cases where there is no overreach, that seems to me to be highly improper."

This comes amid the Department of Justice seeking to prosecute a number of anti-ICE agitators in the Twin Cities area for actions that include storming a St Paul church, blocking federal immigration agents, and other activities. 

In January, a Minnesota Democrat official urged followers to use jury nullification in a federal case in which Claire Louise Feng is accused of biting off the fingertip of a Border Patrol agent during a struggle in Minnesota. Nick Krus, a former Minnesota Young DFL president and current at-large director of Stonewall DFL, wrote, "no one should be going to prison for defending our city against ICE."