Jury Nullification.

JURY NULLIFICATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Proposed measure would amend existing law to provide that defendants in criminal cases may be found not guilty and defendants in civil cases may be held not liable if the jury finds that a law is unjust or that its application would produce an unjust verdict. Proposed statute would permit parties to present arguments regarding the merit, intent, constitutionality, applicability of the law, moral perspective of the defendant, and the sanctions to be applied to the losing party. Failure of judge to instruct jury as to these duties is ground for mistrial and another jury trial. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: The measure would result in unknown costs or savings to state and local government