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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Why do they call it the Criminal justice Bill!
Don Barnard Press Briefing
Tuesday 03 Dec 2002 From: Press Office The Legalise Cannabis Alliance DonBarnard@lca-uk.org Phone 07984 255015 Please forward to any assignment editor or journalist who you believe may be interested in this. _______________________________________________________ Why do they call it the Criminal justice Bill! This week [Tuesday/Wednesday] we are to see parliament postulating on the Courts and Criminal Justice Bill which allegedly, will include removing the right of trial by jury for some offences. Retain the right of the police to arrest for cannabis possession offence after rescheduling to Class "C"-onfusion and increase the sentences for possession and supply of all Class "C" substances. It is worth note here: David Blunket "shelved" the recommendation to remove the right of jury for offences carrying a maximum sentences of 2 years ..on the week he announced reclassifying cannabis. Which effectively reduces the sentance for cannabis possession to 2 years! Don Barnard LCA Press Officer said: I am curious whether he is going to take it off the shelf again, or, has he abandoned it? TRAGICALLY, few people are fully informed about the duties and powers of the juror. Those of you who have done jury service will recall the judge reminding you of your oath: "You must reach a verdict on the evidence alone." But, do you remember him telling you that you could also return a verdict according to your conviction? Mr Barnard said: "He should have" - "Since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, trial by jury has been a fundamental right for the accused person. From Magna Carta [29] No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right. http://www.ukcia.org/pollaw/lawlibrary/magna-carta.htm "The Legalise Cannabis Alliance condemns any attempt by parliament to remove this final safeguard against tyranny by the state" ... It should be resisted by everyone regardless of political persuasions.." To support his case Don cites two of the greatest statesmen of our time. Thomas Jefferson. "I consider Trial by Jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." Winston Churchill. "...the great principle of habeas corpus and trial by jury, which are the supreme protection invented by the British people for ordinary individuals against the state. The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious, and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments." Don said: "According to the Magna Carta, one of the fundamental elements of our unwritten constitution is: The law itself can and must be called into question. Is the law fair? Is the law just?" This right was first put to the test in 1670 - From around 1650, common law juries begun to refuse to enforce the religious intolerance of the Crown by acquitting Quakers for violating Parliament's degree that "All, Religious services conformed to the Anglican ritual. Jurors were frequently fined, for returning not guilty verdicts in these cases. Things came to a head when the government increased the severity of the enforcement on the Quakers, ordering that all the doors of Quaker Churches be locked and guarded by soldiers. This resulted in Penn and Mead preaching in the street and their inevitable arrest and trial. The jury acquitted them. A plaque commemorating this historical event can be found at the entrance to the Old Bailey law courts: "Near this site William Penn and William Mead were tried in 1670 for preaching to an unlawful assembly in Gracechurch Street. This tablet commemorates the courage an endurance of the jury, Thomas Vere, Edward Bushel and ten others, who refused to give a guilty verdict against them although they were locked up without food for two nights and fined for their final verdict of Not Guilty." NOTE: Probably, the most recent ground breaking case of juries refusing to find a defendant guilty in the face of the law in the UK is Regina v Rob Cannabis Three counts: A] Offering cannabis for sale at an auction at Speakers' corner on 29 September 2001; B] Possessing two addressed envelopes of cannabis with intent to supply it to named MS patients; C] Possessing cannabis found when police searched his home in Glastonbury. SEE http://www.freecannabis.com/ and http://www.ukcia.org/ Mr Cannabis defending himself, in his summing up to the jury asserted that it was the jury's right to deliver a perverse verdict of not guilty - Presiding Judge Mr Karston interrupted and told the jury, It wasn't their 'right' but it was within "their power" to do so - The jury failed to reach a verdict Contact for Mr Cannabis: Phone: 01458 833 713 01458 833 236 (answering machine) . Mr Barnard said: "Clearly, it is a juror's duty to judge the application of law itself, and not just whether a defendant has committed a crime according to that law. "In short, A jury, after finding a defendant guilty under the on the evidence, should go on to consider if the law had been applied correctly. And, if they believe the defendant had no alternative or overriding mitigation but to break the law - They can return a not guilty verdict. There have been many cases of late where juries have used these powers to return not guilty verdicts where a defence of duress and/or medical necessity has been put forward for possession and cultivating cannabis charges. JOUNALIST RESEARCHERS NOTE: More on Medical Necessity. Contact LCA Health Spokesperson Mark Gibson 01434 382066 Mark's wife Lezley [aka Cannabis Lezley] was found not guilty by a jury for cannabis possession which she used to self medicate for her MS - So they have both walked the line and would love to talk the line with you! Both Mark and Lezley are declared LCA candidates for 2004 election. See press release "120 candidates for the LCA" - 29 November 2002: http://www.lca-uk.org/displayitem.php?articleid=765 The Legalise Cannabis Alliance Cyfreithloni Cannabis Cyfathrach A registered UK political party. PO Box 198, Norwich NR3 3WB email lca@lca-uk.org Press contact: Don Barnard 07984 255015 ___________ "There are good laws and there are occasionally bad laws, and it conforms to the highest traditions of a free society to offer resistance to bad laws, and to disobey them." - Alexander Bickel
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